I saw the IDF spokesman's tweet before I saw this NY Times article. I wonder how many other militaries and government organizations could have a response to the public as quickly as the IDF spokesman. Or more specifically how many Lieutenant Colonel military public affairs officers could get something out as rapidly as LTC Peter Lerner (or stated another way how many senior leaders in organizations trust their spokesman to allow such rapid responses without multiple rewrites through the staffing process in the vain attempt to make sure someone does not say something wrong - of course that is not fair as there are many senior leaders who do. So to put it another way, how many organizations are willing to give up the conventional staffing process to allow information to flow with speed where it will do more potential good than harm (good information now is usually better than perfect information too late).
Retweeted by Blogs of War
Peter Lerner
The #IDF has commenced an investigation on the beach incident. The reported civilian causalities from this strike are a tragic outcome.
Four Young Boys Killed Playing on Gaza Beach
By ANNE BARNARD and TYLER HICKSJULY 16, 2014
GAZA CITY — Four young Palestinian boys were killed Wednesday when two explosions hit a jetty and beach where they were playing at the fishing port of Gaza City, and witnesses and officials here said the cause was an Israeli naval or aerial attack. The port area had been considered relatively safe from the intense Israeli bombing campaign of the past nine days.
The Israel Defense Forces, which has been hitting Gaza with bombs and missiles to counter rockets fired into Israel by Hamas and other militant groups, said it was investigating what killed the boys. All were cousins in an extended family of fishermen who kept their boats at the port.
The first explosion left a small shack burning on the jetty. Several boys could be seen fleeing along the beach. About 30 seconds later came the second blast, and when the dust cleared, three figures lay motionless on the sand. One had most of a leg blown off, his body charred; a few yards away lay a smaller one with curly hair.
Men came running and scooped up the bodies. A fourth was found in the charred ruins of the shack on the jetty. A grown man, wounded, called for help from inside an outdoor beach cafe, and he too was carried away.
Israel’s military says it has taken extensive precautions to avoid killing civilians. According to a running count kept by United Nations officials, of the more than 200 Palestinians killed so far, about 75 percent have been civilians. One Israeli has been killed.
Hamas and other militants have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel since simmering hostilities erupted into military confrontation on July 8. Most of the Gaza rockets have fallen in open ground in Israel or been destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome interception system. Israel has struck houses, offices and farmland with airstrikes, missiles from Apache helicopters and shelling from naval boats.
(Continued at the link below)
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