The Israeli military has admitted that its forces likely endangered civilian noncombatants during an airstrike in the Gaza Strip this week in which dozens of casualties were reported. Israeli aircraft carried strikes on the central Gaza Strip town of Maghazi, including at least one strike on a refugee camp operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Gaza-based health officials estimated at least 68 people were killed in the strike, though the Associated Press subsequently reported records from the nearby hospital suggested up to 106 people may have been killed at the refugee camp.
In a statement shared with the Israeli state-owned broadcaster KAN News, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said Israeli air forces conducted an internal investigation following the Sunday strike and determined “the type of weaponry used did not match the nature of the mission. As a result, there was extensive collateral damage that did not need to occur and could have been avoided.”
In another statement shared with Sky News, an IDF official said the strike in Maghazi on Sunday was directed against “two targets adjacent to which Hamas operatives were located.” The IDF spokesperson said the Israeli side had taken measures to mitigate risks to civilians prior to the strike, but said the strike likely still caused harm to civilians. The Israeli side told Sky News it “regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians and is acting to draw conclusions and learn lessons from this event.”
Reports of civilian casualties coming out of Gaza have been treated with skepticism by the Israeli and international community, particularly after an incident in which an explosion occurred at a hospital in Gaza, attributed to an Israeli strike by the Gaza Health Ministry. However, U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessments later attributed the blast to an errant rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated terrorist organization aligned with Hamas.
The organization Médecins Sans Frontières said bombing strikes on Dec. 24 in the Maghazi Refugee Camp and another U.N. Relief and Works Agency location resulted in a combined 131 deaths and 209 injuries, with about half of those casualties being women and children.
The Biden administration has urged Israel to pursue a lower intensity and “more surgical” phase of its ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip, offering insights on how to transition to these lower intensity military operations. Despite calls for the Israeli side to reduce risks to civilians and lower the overall intensity of the conflict, it has also rejected calls for a ceasefire, voting against U.N. Security Council measures seeking a more immediate cessation of hostilities.