SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Australia to appoint special adviser on probe over Gaza aid workers deaths
Sydney, April 7 (AFP) Apr 07, 2024
Australia has said it will appoint a special adviser to work with Israel as it demands transparency in an investigation into an air strike on Gaza that killed seven aid workers, including an Australian.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants detailed answers as to how aid workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen were killed by Israeli forces last Monday.

The group included 43-year-old Australian national Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, as well as British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian employees.

The Australian government wants any probe by Israel to be monitored by its own advisor, who Albanese expects will be named "within the next twenty-four hours".

"The events which led to Zomi Frankcom losing her life are unacceptable," Albanese told reporters Sunday.

Australia will continue to seek clear information and transparency about the killings, he added, "which is why we will be appointing an appropriate person to examine the details of what has occurred".

His foreign minister Penny Wong has said information about the strike provided so far by Israel was insufficient and that the special adviser would monitor "the appropriateness of the (investigation) process".

Israel's military said it fired two officers over the killing of the aid workers in Gaza, where humanitarian groups say famine is imminent.

But the rare admission of wrongdoing by Israel did not quell calls for an independent probe.

The deaths of the aid workers led to a tense call between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack from the territory by Hamas militants resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Palestinian militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including more than 30 the army says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
ICE-CSIC leads a pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Thorium plated steel points to smaller nuclear clocks
Solar ghost particles seen flipping carbon atoms in underground detector
Overview Energy debuts airborne power beaming milestone for space based solar power

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle

24/7 News Coverage
UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation's Climate Impact
Digital twin successfully launched and deployed into space
Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.