Seven international aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in April 2024 after being designated as targets under an Israeli military practice known as haflala — a system of "incrimination by association" — a Guardian investigation has found. The workers, who included three British nationals, an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole, and a dual US-Canadian citizen, were struck by three Israeli drone missiles shortly after completing a coordinated food aid delivery in Gaza. The reserve colonel who ordered the strikes, Nochi Mendel, concluded the workers had "mixed" with armed guards near the convoy, deeming that proximity sufficient to mark them as connected to Hamas, even though the assumption that Hamas had hijacked the convoy was later shown to be groundless. Israeli military prosecutors announced last month that they would not pursue criminal charges over the incident, a decision denounced as "shameful" by the UK, Australia, and Canada. The investigation reveals that a breakdown in communication between Israel's humanitarian coordination administration and the Nahal brigade controlling that sector meant the brigade had not been fully briefed on the convoy's pre-approved route. Senior Israeli officers familiar with the case told the Guardian that the incrimination procedure, which gives field commanders wide subjective discretion in designating targets, meant the three successive missile strikes followed near-automatically once an initial misidentification was made. One officer estimated that 90% of commanders would have made the same call given the standing rules of engagement.