RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Australia's foreign minister has said she is "outraged" over an Israeli government decision not to prosecute those responsible for the death of aid worker Zomi Frankcom, who was killed in an IDF strike.
Frankcom was an Australian aid worker with World Central Kitchen (WCK) who was killed in Gaza with six other colleagues by an Israeli airstrike in April 2024.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the decision "falls far short of the accountability we expect" and called in the Israeli ambassador.
WCK said the decision was "inconsistent with the full truth" and that the military investigation "conflates different timelines and events" and "shifts the blame for the IDF's illegal conduct".
Australia would continue pressing Israel "for justice for Zomi and her colleagues", Wong said in a statement on Thursday. Three British nationals, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian citizen were also killed in the attack.
In its statement, the IDF said the presence of an armed guard with the convoy had not been flagged with it before the convoy set off, and that he was falsely identified as a Hamas fighter. It also claimed the convoy had deviated from the route that had been coordinated with the military.
Notwithstanding "serious failures" in the process that led to the killings, "the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct," the IDF said.
In the same statement, the IDF also said it had also failed to find grounds for criminal investigation into the killing of four employees of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who were killed in two separate attacks in November 2023 and February 2024.
Wong said the Australian government had learned of Israel's decision late on Wednesday night, adding that the outcome was "especially insulting" as it occurred on World Humanitarian Day.
"This is despite Israel Defense Forces admissions that the IDF strikes on Zomi and her colleagues' vehicles were the result of serious failures to follow IDF procedures, mistaken identification and errors in decision-making," she said.
"This decision falls far short of the accountability we expect."
Wong said the government would continue pressing Israel "for justice for Zomi and her colleagues".
WCK said the Israeli decision was "inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive". It demanded an independent investigation as "the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct".
"At the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody," it said in a statement. "It had full visual clarity on our clearly marked humanitarian vehicles during the extended, multiple airstrikes. It knew our team's movements, identities and activities in advance.
"The military investigation conflates different timelines and events, muddies the story and shifts the blame for the IDF's illegal conduct."
Wong's comments mark one of the strongest censures of the Israeli military by Australia since the war in Gaza began, reflecting broader international condemnation of the WCK attack .
Speaking after meeting Wong, Israeli Ambassador Hillel Newman said there was no intention to kill innocent civilians and that while he could "express deep sorrow and grief" for the families he would not apologise over the deaths as that would have "legal ramifications".
Australian former defence force chief Mark Binskin handed down a report in August 2024 that found "serious failures" in the IDF's procedures led to the killing of Frankcom and her colleagues.
At the time, the IDF called the attack on the aid convoy a "grave mistake".
The Frankcom decision contrasts with the IDF's announcement in the same statement that it would carry out a criminal investigation into the killing by Israeli forces of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in Gaza in 2024.
An ambulance sent to reach her – in a move co-ordinated with the Israeli army - was then also shelled, killing two paramedics.
The IDF also said it would investigate the killing of 15 Palestinians , including medics and a UN worker, in March 2025, whose bodies were found buried in shallow graves a week later next to the crushed vehicles.
Israel confirms soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed and opens criminal investigation
Delivering food in a warzone: The story behind World Central Kitchen
Israel changes account of Gaza medic killings after video showed deadly attack
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