IDF ousts officer responsible for incident in which 15 rescue workers were killed in Gaza

The IDF has dismissed the deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit for his responsibility for an incident on March 23 in which his forces opened fire on a convoy of ambulances and emergency vehicles in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing 15 rescue workers.

The commander is also being removed from his role for his “partial and inaccurate” report of the incident during an initial investigation, the military says.

Additionally, the IDF says the commander of the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade — the unit leading the operation in Rafah when the killing of the medics took place — is being formally censured for his “overall responsibility for the incident,” including the management of the scene afterward.

The moves, decided on by the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, come following an investigation into the incident led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har-Even, head of the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents during the war.

Har-Even’s investigation found that there were no violations of the IDF’s code of ethics in the incident, but there were several “professional errors” and acts by troops that breached military protocol, alongside a failure to fully report the incident.

The IDF says it “expresses regret for harming uninvolved [civilians],” and says the investigation was intended to prevent such incidents from recurring.

“The existing guidelines on the special caution required with regard to rescue forces and medical workers, even in areas of intense combat, were sharpened and clarified,” the military adds.