SYDNEY — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong acknowledged on Thursday that it was a “difficult time” in the country’s relationship with Israel after its decision not to pursue a criminal investigation into the killing of aid workers.
Wong said she was “outraged” over an Israeli military decision not to launch a criminal investigation into the death of aid worker Zomi Frankcom, who was killed in an air strike in Gaza.
Frankcom was an Australian aid worker with World Central Kitchen (WCK) who was killed with six other colleagues in an Israeli attack in April 2024.
Wong said in a statement the decision “falls far short of the accountability we expect” and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
“We have an Australian humanitarian worker who was killed not on the first strike, but in the context of three separate strikes on a humanitarian convoy,” Wong told journalists in Canberra on Thursday following a meeting with the Israeli ambassador Hillel Newman.
Wong said she directed Australia’s ambassador to Israel to convey Canberra’s views directly to the Israeli government.
The Israeli military said Wednesday it had found no basis to open criminal investigations into the April 1, 2024 strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers as they delivered food and other humanitarian supplies in Gaza.
Frankcom, 43, was among those killed when Israeli strikes hit their clearly marked aid convoy. The other victims were from Poland, Britain, Palestine and the United States and Canada.
Israel previously described the attack as a “grave mistake” and dismissed two officers, saying the strikes had violated the military’s rules of engagement.
An Australian government review into the deaths, released in August 2024, found “serious failures” by the Israeli military to follow procedures and a significant breakdown in situational awareness.
The review, led by former Australian Air Force chief Mark Binskin, concluded that the World Central Kitchen convoy had not been knowingly or deliberately targeted. But it said failures in coordination, communication and the dissemination of information about the convoy had contributed to errors in decision-making and the fatal misidentification of the vehicles.
Binskin also found that the three vehicles in the convoy were struck in relatively quick succession, with the attacks occurring about two minutes apart.
At the time, Wong said Australia would continue to press Israel for full accountability for what she called the “inexcusable” deaths, including any appropriate criminal charges.
The World Central Kitchen killings drew widespread international condemnation and intensified concerns over the dangers faced by humanitarian workers in Gaza, where aid agencies have struggled to deliver desperately needed food and supplies amid the war.
Australia has repeatedly called for stronger protections for aid workers and civilians, while maintaining that Israel’s accountability process should be transparent.
Wong said Thursday that Canberra was now weighing further action after Israel’s decision not to open criminal proceedings.
Source: Saudi Gazette