Few armed forces have managed to make murder and executions the stuff of procedural aberration rather than intentional practice. Killing civilians and unarmed personnel is the stuff of misreading and misunderstandings, albeit arrived at with good conscience. And so it was that the killing of 15 aid and emergency workers in Gaza by the Israeli army on 23 March could be put down to “professional failures, breaches or orders and a failure to fully report the incident”, a finding identified by an investigation conducted by the same organisation into its own personnel.

In marking its own report card, and giving it a credible pass, the Israeli army found, using the dulling terms that make murder an afterthought, that the deaths were of minor if regretful consequence. While not explicitly libelling the dead workers, the official press release teeters on excuse and general exculpation, making it clear that, on 23 March, “the troops were conducting a vital mission aimed at targeting terrorists.” The killings took place “in a hostile and dangerous combat zone, under a widespread threat to the operating troops.” The armed forces were presented with the dilemma of protecting medical and facilities (something the army has conspicuously failed to do), with the use by Hamas “of such infrastructure for terrorism, including ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons.”

The thick........

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