Australia condemns Israel decision not to prosecute over Gaza aid worker deaths
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the decision "falls far short of the accountability we expect".
Australia has condemned Israel's decision not to prosecute those responsible for an April 2024 airstrike in Gaza that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her colleagues, saying the decision falls short of the accountability it expects.
Accoridng to the BBC, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the decision "falls far short of the accountability we expect".
Wong also described the timing of the announcement, which came on World Humanitarian Day, as "especially insulting". She said she would call in Israel's Ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, while Australia's ambassador to Israel had been directed to convey the government's views directly as Canberra considers its next steps.
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The diplomatic response represents one of Australia's strongest censures of the Israeli military since the Gaza conflict began.
World Central Kitchen rejects findings
World Central Kitchen (WCK), the US-based aid organisation for which Frankcom worked, also rejected the Israeli findings, describing the decision as "inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive".
WCK said the Israeli military knew its team was unarmed, that the team's movements had been coordinated in advance and that its marked vehicles were clearly visible during the multiple airstrikes.
The organisation called for an independent investigation, saying the IDF "cannot credibly investigate its own conduct".
WCK also accused the military of conflating timelines in a way that shifted blame for the deaths onto the aid workers.
IDF cites procedural failures
The Israeli military said its investigation found that the aid convoy had deviated from its coordinated route and that an armed guard travelling with the convoy had been mistakenly identified as a Hamas fighter.
The IDF acknowledged "serious failures" in procedure and mistaken identification, but concluded that the conduct of its commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and therefore did not warrant criminal prosecution.
An independent report released in August 2024 by former Australian Defence Force Chief Mark Binskin also found "serious failures" in IDF procedures.
The 1 April 2024 strikes killed Frankcom and six other WCK workers as they travelled in a convoy after helping deliver aid in Gaza.
Alongside its decision concerning the WCK workers, the IDF said it found no grounds for criminal investigations into the deaths of four Médecins Sans Frontières employees.
It did, however, announce that it would launch criminal investigations into the killing of five-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab and the deaths of 15 Palestinians in March 2025.
