TEL AVIV -The Israeli military insisted on Friday that their killing of seven aid workers with the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen in Gaza was a "tragic mistake".

The aid group headed by celebrity chef Jose Andres said the seven -- three Britons, a US-Canadian dual national, a Pole, an Australian and a Palestinian -- died in a "targeted Israeli strike" on its staff on Monday night.

This is the Israel military's version of how Monday's attack unfolded, after an often opaque late-night briefing with top brass that left many questions unanswered:

10 pm: Convoy leaves pier

A ship carrying 300 tonnes of World Central Kitchen (WCK) food aid from Cyprus was unloaded at a pier near Deir al-Balah on the central Gaza coast. The area was guarded by the Israeli army.

The operation was to have taken four nights, the army said, with the aid moved to a warehouse inland in the dark to avoid the "stampedes" of hungry people that have caused multiple deaths elsewhere in Gaza.

Portraits of relief and security team members of the US-based aid group who were killed: (Top L to R) Australian Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, Polish Damian Sobol, British James Kirby, Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, (bottom L to R) British James (Jim) Henderson, British John Chapman, and US-Canadian Jacob Flickinger

It was the second time the charity had landed a major aid shipment from Cyprus at the jetty.

WCK had given the army full details of their vehicles and their route.

10:28 pm: Pickups and 'gunman' join convoy

The convoy of eight trucks drove about 20 minutes south along the coast road and were joined at 10:28 pm by four pickup trucks carrying the aid workers near the WCK Welcome Center.

All four pickups had WCK logos on their roofs but the drone "operator could not see them in the dark", the Israelis insisted.

It is here that the Israeli military said an armed man climbed on the roof of one of the trucks and "started firing his weapon", leading to the first suspicions that the "convoy had been hijacked by Hamas".

The military showed journalists drone footage which appeared to show a person shooting an automatic rifle from the top of a truck.

The convoy continued on its agreed route and stopped at the warehouse known as "Hangar A", where the military said "the gunman got off".

At this point the divisional level military commander tried to contact WCK, said Yoav Har-Even, the retired army general leading the internal investigation into the killings.

But the charity's security officer in Europe could not contact the team on the ground, he said.

10:46 pm: 'Hamas operatives'

When the aid trucks and pickups arrived at "Hangar A", the air force drone picked up "15 to 20 individuals outside the hangar. At least two to four of them were identified as carrying weapons," Har-Even said.

"Between 10:47 pm and 10:55 pm one of the Israeli commanding officers (viewing the images back at base) concluded they were Hamas operatives."

However, "they were ordered not to strike the armed individuals so as not to risk the humanitarian convoy," he added.

10:55 pm: Pickups drive away

With the trucks in the hangar, the pickups drove away. One headed a short distance north to "Hangar B". "Two to four gunmen were identified as getting out and going into the hangar," the general said.

Drone footage showed at least three of the men with what appeared to be weapons, Har-Even added.

Men prepare to transport the bodies of staff members of the US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, at a hospital morgue in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 3, 2024

He said the military's rules of engagement forbade a strike on the suspects so close to an aid warehouse.

11:09 pm: First of the three strikes

The three other pickups drove back towards the coast. Har-Even said the brigade-level "cell" commanding the drone was convinced they had spotted an armed man getting into one of the pickups.

"We now know this was a mistake. It wasn't a gun. It was maybe a bag."

As the seven aid workers and their vehicles reached the coast and turned south, "the state of mind (of the drone team) was that the humanitarian mission had finished and they were tracking at least one Hamas gunman", the general said.

Later Friday, the Israel army said "one of the commanders mistakenly assumed the gunmen were inside the vehicles and these were Hamas terrorists."

At 23:09 pm the drone "struck one car, and identified people running out of the car and entering the second car. They decided to hit it, which was against standard operating procedures," the general said.

"Then they struck the third car..."

The final strike on the survivors of the first two missile attacks came at 23:13 pm.