THE ISRAELI military has admitted to the killing of a UN worker in the Gaza Strip after previously denying responsibility.
Bulgarian UN worker Marin Valev Marinov was killed while five people were injured in the explosion at a UN Office for Project Services (Unops) facility in Deir al-Balah on March 19.
The strike came in the day after Israel restarted its offensive in Gaza, breaking a two-month ceasefire.
At the time, a spokesperson for Israel’s military said it was not responsible for the morning strike.
But. on Thursday the IDF said initial findings of its investigation into the incident indicated its troops had in fact killed the UN worker after wrongly identifying the building as containing an "enemy presence".
It said in a statement: "The building was struck due to assessed enemy presence and was not identified by the forces as a UN facility."
It comes after an Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said on Sunday it found a chain of “professional failures” and a deputy commander has been fired.
The shootings outraged many in the international community, with some calling the killings a war crime. Medical workers have special protection under international humanitarian law.
The International Red Cross/Red Crescent called it the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years.
Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked.
Mobile phone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s initial account.
Footage shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that earlier came under fire.
The military investigation found that the deputy battalion commander acted under the incorrect assumption that all of the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants.
