Tank crew under fire for children's deaths in Jenin

The IDF's preliminary investigation into the killing Sunday of three Palestinians by a tank east of Jenin, has uncovered serious failings on the part of the soldiers involved. The investigation has revealed that troops from the army's armored division opened fire on the Palestinians without first ensuring that the targets were indeed terrorists. All this was preceded by the mistaken assumption that the soldiers had come under attack from an incendiary device.

Yesterday, Colonel Dan Hafetz held an investigation into the incident, in which a Palestinian woman and her two children, aged three and four, were killed. It very quickly became clear that the initial version of events issued by the IDF was erroneous, and that the tank had not come under attack. The investigation revealed that the explosion heard by the members of the crew was caused by a malfunction in the tank's track. The noise made by this created an explosive effect, which led to one of the soldiers sustaining moderate injuries.

In accordance with the regulations in force while operating inside the West Bank, immediately after coming under what they saw as an attack, the soldiers opened fire toward "suspicious areas." The policy is aimed at preventing terrorists from detonating further devices and, according to an IDF spokesman yesterday, the policy had proved effective many times in the past.

Soldiers involved in the incident testified they had spotted suspicious characters in a nearby cornfield, despite having only a partial view of the area. Nonetheless, they opened fire with machine guns and light weapons, killing the woman and her two children. The soldiers said they believed the figures were terrorists leaving the scene.

An army spokesman apologized again yesterday for "this tragic event, in which innocent people lost their lives." Senior security sources were highly critical of the soldiers' actions, saying that their rashness was "inexcusable and unjustifiable." The sources added the soldiers should have first ensured the targets were indeed terrorists before opening fire. "The automatic manner in which soldiers open fire is a certain way of ensuring casualties. This is a dangerous policy what must be reconsidered."

Given that the tank crew had no way of verifying that the defective track which resulted in the injury of one of the personnel on board, this seems like an accident.

In combat, there usually isn't any way I know of to call a time out and check if an 'explosion' was caused by equipment failure or enemy fire.

The terrorists would no doubt be overjoyed if the IDF were to adopt a rule of this sort, however.

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