The admission by an Israeli official on the Kan public channel comes as Israel has been accused of using “dirty” bombs on Gaza.
An Israeli military official said the high death toll in an attack on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza was the result of the use of inappropriate munitions, highlighting Israeli military tactics that caused a large number of civilian casualties.
Speaking to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, a military official said Thursday that the raid on Maghazi, which killed at least 70 people, used munitions that were not suitable for a crowded refugee camp.
“The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing significant collateral damage that could have been avoided,” the official told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
“The (Israeli military) regrets the harm caused to those who were not involved and is working to learn lessons from the incident,” the official added.
The statement on the bombing, which the Israeli military previously said was under investigation, comes amid reports that Israel regularly used powerful bombs in the very dense, despite the increased risk of civilian casualties.
Earlier this month, US news outlet CNN reported that nearly half of Israeli munitions used on Gaza were unguided “dumb bombs”, citing a US intelligence assessment. These munitions are less precise and more likely to cause civilian casualties.
Israel says the massacre of 70 Palestinians in the Maghazi refugee camp on Christmas Eve was a “mistake” because “the type of weaponry used did not correspond to the nature of the mission.”
In other words, the hundreds of massacres that killed tens of thousands of civilians and that Israel committed…
-Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 28, 2023
Israeli newspaper +972 also previously reported that the Israeli military had relaxed its standards for acceptable harm to civilians resulting from attacks, leading to the deaths of more civilians than in previous rounds of attacks. military assaults.
Palestinian authorities say more than 21,000 people have been killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza, more than half of them women and children.
The current round of fighting was preceded by months of growing tensions, but began on October 7 when the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that authorities say killed more than 1,100 people and captured more than 240 people.
The attack on Maghazi is not the first to raise questions about the indiscriminate nature of Israeli bombing, which has turned entire neighborhoods of Gaza into mountains of rubble. On Thursday, nearly 100 people were killed in attacks on various locations in Gaza.
Palestinian authorities said at least 90 people were killed in Israeli attacks on a residential block in the Jabalia refugee camp earlier this month, and in early December Israeli attacks killed 700 Palestinians in a single day.
Palestinians in the besieged enclave say they have no safe place to flee Israel’s relentless bombardment, which has also targeted areas to which Israeli authorities had asked civilians to move to avoid fighting.
Humanitarian agencies including the UN have denounced Israeli attacks on schools, hospitals and residential areas, with Israel’s bombardment of Gaza considered the most destructive in recent history.
