IDF: We speak the truth
After reading independent investigations published by British newspapers regarding Gaza beach blast, Major-General Meir Kalifi repeats his version that army was not involved in death of seven Ghalia family members; 'expert should investigate what is happening in Sderot,' he says
But even after reading the new findings, Kalifi is convinced that he was right. Referring to the expert who examined the shell's shrapnel, Kalifi told Ynet: "Maybe he should investigate what is happening in Sderot."
The General Staff's investigative committee ended its work when Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz appeared before the nation and presented the findings, which determine that the Israel Defense Forces was not involved in the incident.
"According to the findings I have, from examinations in which I checked one shell after the other, including the "missing" shell which had a slim chance of hitting the target, I can say very clearly that the family members were not hit by our artillery shell," Kalifi said.
"There is no statement that undermines our findings. There have already been quite a few incidents which took the foreign media time to understand that we only present the truth," he added.
According to Kalifi, "I can also estimate, according to several parameters, the time of the event and many other data, and even is someone wants to argue the exact time, whether it's three minutes here or three minutes there, that's not the issue. I can show that the chance that such a shell would hit the place where the family members were is tiny."
'Baseless claims'
And what did he have to say about the findings of the British investigations?
"Tomorrow they may also say that the family members were not even at that spot, but somewhere else. I'm just waiting for that to come," Kalifi said.
Major-General Kalifi explained that the claims which say that shells fired by the navy caused the deaths were baseless.
Evacuating the wounded from Gaza beach (Photo: AP)
"Every shell we fired appears on the map, where it was fired, where it hit, including those of the navy. The navy fired 17 shells. The last two fired by boats at that area, which could have theoretically risked civilians, were fired between 11 a.m. and 11:55 a.m., which isn’t even near the incident's timetable," he said.
"Out of 17 shells fired by the navy, four were fired at a distance of 300 to 350 meters (984.3 to 1,148.35 feet) from the area of the incident. The navy than continued to fire toward the area of Dugit, which is 700 meters (2,296.7 feet) away from the area of the incident," he added.
According to Kalifi, the IDF estimates that the incident took place between 4:57 p.m. and 5:10 p.m., adding that “we have a photo of the specific beachfront area and additional data proving that the blast did not occur before this time.
“The claim that they (Palestinians) evacuated the wounded by 5:05 p.m. is illogical,” he said.
Kalifi said that only at 5:12 p.m. did the Palestinians report to the army of a multiple-casualty incident and requested the IDF to halt its fire and allow ambulances to make their way to the scene.
“If the request was made at 5:12 p.m., then how is it possible that the injured were cleared from the area by 5:05?” he said.
The major-general said British journalists in Gaza admitted to him that they based their reports on hand-written hospital logs, which could have easily been altered.
Kalifi also dismissed the Times report, according to which UN personnel reported of a shell striking the Beit Lahiya beach.
'What additional evidence do I need to provide?'
“These UN people cannot differentiate between a shell that explodes during artillery fire and a shell that explodes after someone handles it,” he said.
As to eyewitness accounts of shells landing on the beach, Kalifi said, “they saw the first shell fall, and then another two after that. I want to make it clear that we fired only two artillery shells at a target located 300 meters (984 feet) from the scene of the incident, so if in fact there was a third or fourth explosion, they should look into how this happened.
“I have no problem with the claim that there were three or four blasts, but I can say for certain that only two were ours,” he said.
Regarding the shrapnel taken from the body of one of those wounded in the blast, Kalifi said, “after completely ruling out the possibility that it was a navy shell that caused the explosion, the only thing left to examine was whether it was a 155 mm artillery shell. After examining the shrapnel taken from the injured female Palestinian during surgery, we completely dismissed this possibility as well.
“What additional evidence do I need to provide? Some expert claimed otherwise this week; I don’t know who he is. There are those who come to Gaza to study the economic situation and then express their opinion on unrelated matters, and it is not clear what they base these opinions on,’ he concluded.
