The Australian government has demanded Israel take “appropriate action” over its military’s “deadly failure” that killed seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said she and the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, wrote to their counterparts in Israel overnight on Friday after a verbal briefing on the initial findings of Israel Defense Forces’ investigation, which Wong said had not yet satisfied the government’s expectations.
“We acknowledge since we sent the letter Israel has now confirmed that two individuals involved in this incident have been stood down,” Wong told reporters on Saturday, adding that Israel was yet to respond to the letter.
“We reiterate that appropriate action must be taken against the individuals who are responsible for these tragic events.
“Clear, practical action is needed to ensure this tragedy is never repeated.”
Wong also confirmed the government would appoint a special adviser to ensure a thorough investigation into the IDF drone strike.
“We also, in our letter, raised concerns on behalf of the country that Israel’s initial responses suggest that the gravity of the death of seven humanitarian workers is yet to be appreciated by the Israeli government,” she said.
On Friday, the IDF said it had dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in killing the aid workers, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
Israeli Lt Col Peter Lerner told ABC radio the military was sorry for the “very grave mistake” and officers who were involved in the strike would face consequences.
Earlier this week, Wong rebuked Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for “deeply insensitive” comments attempting to “brush aside” his military’s culpability after he admitted Israeli forces “unintentionally” hit innocent people, adding “this happens in wartime”.
“We do not accept any suggestion that this is just something that can be brushed aside as just something that happens in war,” Wong told Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, recorded on Thursday.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said it was not good enough to describe the killings of the aid workers as “just a product of war”.
He previously labelled the explanations of the deaths given by Israel as “insufficient and unacceptable”.
Wong said since Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel the Australian government had urged Israel to observe international humanitarian law. However, she told reporters on Saturday that “demonstrably that did not occur in relation to Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues.”
“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,” Wong said.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure following the killings, with US president, Joe Biden, telling Netanyahu that future US support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza would depend on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers.
Asked if the Australian government would follow Poland in calling for consideration of criminal liability over the aid workers’ deaths, Wong said: “I’m not ruling anything in or out.”
“The facts need to be ascertained and once the facts are ascertained, appropriate action needs to be taken. I would again say what I have said before: Israel is bound by international humanitarian law,” she said.
“This cannot be swept aside. This can’t be brushed aside.”
Wong has emphasised that this was not the first Israeli attack on aid convoys, citing UN figures that 196 aid workers had been killed prior to the World Central Kitchen incident.
“People have been raising concerns for some time about … what is occurring in relation to humanitarian workers. This has been a deadly failure of deconfliction,” Wong told reporters on Saturday, referring to the process by which aid agencies engage with defence forces to ensure they are protected in conflict zones.
“There is obviously a deadly failure. It cannot be brushed aside and it cannot be covered over.”
With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
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