Australia summoned Israel's ambassador Hillel Newman after the Israeli military decided not to open a criminal investigation into the April 2024 strike in Deir al-Balah that killed seven aid workers, including an Australian citizen. The case sits right where state power likes it: armed force on one side, diplomatic theater on the other, and dead civilians in the middle.
The State Investigates Itself
The World Central Kitchen and Australian officials on Wednesday condemned the Israel Defense Forces' decision after the military said it had completed reviews of several high-profile “exceptional operational incidents” in Gaza. In the incident, the IDF fired at World Central Kitchen vehicles during a humanitarian aid operation in Gaza in April 2024, killing seven workers. The army said IDF personnel tried unsuccessfully to contact World Central Kitchen during the roughly half-hour the convoy was tracked on the assumption that Hamas operatives were inside.
Following an initial review, two officers were dismissed and three senior commanders reprimanded. The army said that despite “failures” in assessing that Hamas operatives were in the vehicles, the commanders' decisions “did not cross the criminal threshold.” It concluded there were no grounds for a criminal investigation or further measures. That’s the familiar arrangement: the institution that fired the shots also decides whether the shots were criminal.
Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom was among the victims of the strike. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, “This decision falls far short of the accountability we expect,” and added that Australia was outraged by the decision. She also said, “Democracies seek, and accept higher standards. The Australian government will not stop pressing Israel for justice for Zomi and her colleagues.” Wong said she had told Australia's envoy in Israel to convey its views directly to the Israeli government as Canberra considers its next steps.
Aid Under Armed Control
Hillel Newman said the investigation had concluded there was no criminal liability for the soldiers involved in the attack, although there had been operational failures by the Israeli military. He said, “It was a mistake, in retrospect, but the findings of the court are that there was no criminal intention, no intention to hit at aid workers, and therefore no criminal responsibility.” Newman said the aid workers' convoy deviated from a pre-approved route and may have carried armed personnel, leading the Israeli military to believe it had been taken over by militant group Hamas.
According to Australia's ABC network, Newman also expressed “deep sorrow” for Frankcom's family. He said, “I would just like to tell them, straightforward, we grieve with you, we are very sorry for the circumstances that brought about this death. Any innocent life is a tragedy.” The language is polished. The result is still seven dead aid workers.
World Central Kitchen said in a statement after the IDF announcement, “We strongly condemn the Israeli military prosecutor's account of the deaths of our seven colleagues on April 1, 2024. And we fundamentally disagree with their decision about criminal investigations into the IDF airstrikes that killed our team.” It added that “There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks, and there is nothing in this account that does so. The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive.”
The organization said that 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 knew our team's movements, identities, and activities in advance.” It said the military investigation “conflates different timelines and events, muddies the story and shifts the blame for the IDF's illegal conduct.”
The NGO Mirage Meets the War Machine
World Central Kitchen said it immediately filed a complaint with the IDF after the incident and demanded the army stop the fire toward its staff and guarantee their safety when distributing food in the Gaza Strip, which is carried out with full coordination. The IDF did not comment on the organization's inquiry at the time.
That detail matters. Humanitarian work in Gaza did not happen outside the armed order; it happened with full coordination. The convoy moved under the shadow of military approval, military tracking, and military assumptions. When the army says it believed Hamas operatives were inside, and then says the commanders still didn’t cross the criminal threshold, the structure speaks for itself. The aid workers were unarmed. The vehicles were clearly marked. The state still held the trigger.
Australia's protest, meanwhile, runs through the usual diplomatic machinery: summons, statements, envoy meetings, and the promise to keep pressing for justice. It’s the language of institutions trying to discipline another institution, while the dead remain dead and the military keeps its own books. The Israeli military called the killings a mistake. World Central Kitchen called the explanation inconsistent with the full truth. Between those two versions sits the same old monopoly on force, deciding whose deaths become “operational failures” and whose become crimes.