YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli military said Friday that it has dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement, Associated News reports.

According to the report, the findings of a retired general’s investigation into the Monday killings marked an embarrassing admission by Israel of not doing enough to protect Gaza’s civilians from its war with Hamas.

“It’s a tragedy,” the military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told reporters. “It’s a serious event that we are responsible for and it shouldn’t have happened and we will make sure that it won’t happen again.”

According to what spokespeople said were the Israeli army’s rules, targets must be visually identified as threats for multiple reasons before they can be hit. But the investigation determined that a colonel had authorized the series of deadly drone strikes on the convoy based on one major’s observation — from grainy drone-camera footage — that someone in the convoy was armed. That observation turned out to be untrue, military officials said.

Besides, officers failed to read messages alerting troops that cars, not aid trucks, would carry the charity workers away from the warehouse where aid was distributed. As a result, the cars that were targeted were misidentified as transporting militants, the report adds.

The aid workers were three British citizens, a Polish citizen, an Australian and a Canadian American dual citizen, all of whom worked for World Central Kitchen, the international charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés. Their Palestinian driver also was killed.

More than 220 humanitarian workers have been killed in the conflict, according to the U.N.