Gaps in intelligence and assessments resulted in the civilian deaths in the IDF's assassinatio of Hamas military wing commander Salah Shehadeh last week, an internal probe of the army has determined.
On the night of July 22, an Israeli F-16 warplane dropped a one-ton bomb in a densely populated area of Gaza city, killing Shehadeh and 15 other civilians, most of whom were children. The United States and many other countries sharply criticized Israel for the attack.
The IDF and Shin Bet Security Service determined that there were "gaps in information and assessments with regard to the presence of civilians in the apartment in which Shehadeh was hiding out and nearby homes - faults that brought about the fatal results."
An IDF statement summarizing the findings of the probe said that it regretted the deaths of civilians and that "the timing of the operation or its method would have changed" if it had known women and children were in the building with Shehadeh.
Military sources admitted Friday that "the kiling of civilians was a failure," but repeated their claim that there was an urgent need to strike at the Hamas military wing.
Immediately following the news of the large number of Palestinian civilian deaths, the IDF and Shin Bet opened an investigation of the Israel Air Force operation in Gaza. The probe focused on two aspects: the fact that the pilots did not receive a complete intelligence picture, including the presence of civilians in the home, and the selection of a one-ton bomb for the strike.