The three World Central Kitchen vehicles were painted white and were clearly marked with WCK logos on their roofs and doors. Photo: WCK.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has cleared itself of any legal responsibility for the killing of an Australian aid worker and six others in a 2024 drone strike in Gaza, and the Federal Government has called in Israel’s Ambassador to Australia for a dressing-down.
On 1 April 2024 a convoy of three vehicles carrying a number of staff from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) and Solace Global humanitarian organisations was making its way north along a coastal road in Gaza, when it came under sustained attack from missiles fired by an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) drone.
Seven WCK and Solace Global employees, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, were killed in the strike.
The following day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Israeli forces’ responsibility, and said it would conduct a thorough enquiry into the drone strike, but added, “this happens in war”.
The WCK said its vehicles were clearly marked with its logos on the roofs and doors, and said its “movements were known by everybody at the IDF”.
An initial Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM) investigation by the IDF reported just four days after the attack that the incident should not have occurred. It said the IDF did not deliberately or knowingly attack WCK employees, but instead thought its was targeting Hamas operatives.
It added that the strikes were a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and violation of the IDF’s rules of engagement (RoE) and standard operating procedures (SOP).
As a result of the FFAM’s report, two mid-level IDF officers were dismissed, while a colonel, a major general, and a brigadier general were formally reprimanded.
On 8 April 2024, Australia’s Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong appointed retired Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin as a special adviser on the Israeli Government’s response to the incident.
ACM Binskin’s report to the government found “there was a significant breakdown in situational awareness due to a number of factors – primarily the presence of armed gunmen associated with the WCK aid convoy and a failure within the IDF to fully disseminate and/or read the detailed movement plan approved for the convoy.
“While the presence of armed gunmen with the WCK aid convoy did contribute to the breakdown of situational awareness, ultimately, that is why professional and disciplined militaries, such as the IDF, have multiple controls in place to mitigate the associated risks,” he said.
“In this incident, it appears that the IDF controls failed, leading to errors in decision-making and a misidentification, likely compounded by a level of confirmation bias.
“As a result, it is likely that a failure to comply with the intent of senior command direction and a misidentification led to one WCK aid worker being killed in the first strike; and that a violation of IDF standard operating procedures and RoE led to the deaths of the remaining six WCK aid workers and Solace Global personnel in the subsequent strikes.
Now, more than two years after the strike, an IDF investigation has cleared the drone operators and those in the chain of command of any wrongdoing over the attack.
The investigation found there were serious failures that led those involved to falsely identify a security guard travelling with the convoy as a Hamas fighter. This prompted three separate attacks on the convoy over several kilometres which resulted in the vehicles being destroyed and the aid workers killed.
It said the IDF had not been notified of and would not have approved the presence of the security guard who had been employed by WCK to protect the convoy, and that the convoy took a different route from that which had been coordinated with the IDF.
In light of this, the IDF assessed that, “… Hamas operatives had taken control of the convoy before its arrival at the warehouse,” and that it “… mistakenly believed that the vehicles contained Hamas military operatives, and therefore struck the vehicles”.
Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her colleagues were killed in the Israeli drone strike on 1 April 2024. Photo: WCK.
The investigation found that the IDF had tried to contact WCK about the convoy, although it is not clear whether this was prior to or after the strike, but says it did not hear back.
“Notwithstanding serious failures in the process that led to the assessment that Hamas operatives were travelling in the vehicles, the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct,” it said.
In a statement on 20 August, Senator Wong expressed the Australian Government’s “outrage” at the findings.
“Australia is outraged the Israeli Government has decided not to pursue criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues,” she said.
“The Australian Government learned of Israel’s decision late last night, moments before it was announced, on World Humanitarian Day – which is especially insulting to Zomi’s loved ones, humanitarians, and all Australians.
“This decision falls far short of the accountability we expect,” she added.
“This is despite Israel Defense Force’s 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.
“Democracies seek and accept higher standards. The Australian Government will not stop pressing Israel for justice for Zomi and her colleagues.”
Senator Wong said she would be calling in Israel’s Ambassador to Australia and has directed Australia’s Ambassador to Israel to convey the government’s views directly to Israel.
In a statement released overnight, WCK said, “We strongly condemn the Israeli military prosecutor’s account of the deaths of our seven colleagues on 1 April 2024. And we fundamentally disagree with their decision about criminal investigations into the IDF airstrikes that killed our team.
“There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks, and there is nothing in this account that does so,” it said.
“The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive. At the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody.
“It had full visual clarity on our clearly marked humanitarian vehicles during the extended, multiple airstrikes,” it added. “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.
“We continue to demand an independent commission to investigate the airstrikes because the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct. And we continue to grieve the loss of our friends.”
