Australia to Appoint Special Advisor for Investigation into Death of Aid Workers in Gaza

Sydney: During a press conference on Saturday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that the government would be appointing a ‘special advisor’ who is expected to work with Israel as part of its probe into the death of seven aid workers in Gaza. Wong, while calling on the Israeli side to cooperate with the special advisor, said that Australia was taking such a step to ensure full confidence in the transparency and accountability of the investigation. 

It may be recalled that seven aid workers involved with the World Central Kitchen group were killed in Gaza earlier this week when their convoy was struck by an Israeli drone strike. 

The victims were British, Polish, Australian, Palestinian and one individual holding a dual US-Canadian citizenship. Their deaths in Gaza, which the Israeli leadership described as ‘tragic and unintentional’ sparked considerable outrage and demands for a transparent and swift investigation into why the tragedy had occurred. 

On Friday, Israel dismissed two officers and reprimanded others for the incident which it claims happened as a result of a breach of procedure. As per a report by Reuters, one of the drone operators mistook a bag carried by one of the aid workers as a gun which led to the fatal assumption that at least one of the vehicles had been taken over by Hamas. 

In its investigation, the IDF also said that the officers responsible for the strike had not been able to see the logo of the World Central Kitchen on the rooftop of the vehicles in the dark. 

During the press conference on Saturday, Wong said that the dismissals were a “necessary first step” but also noted that the Australian government has sent a letter to Israel saying that the initial responses suggest that the “gravity of the death of seven humanitarian workers is yet to be appreciated by the Israeli government.”

“We again say, we have a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Humanitarian assistance at scale must be enabled and it is clear that to date, prior to this, it has not been. Civilians, including humanitarian workers, must be protected. This incident demonstrates that has not been the case,” said Wong. 

With agency inputs.