Australia to Appoint ‘Special Adviser’ on Probe into Israel Airstrike

Clothes of members of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) inside their destroyed car along Al-Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024 (reissued 05 April 2024). (EPA)
Clothes of members of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) inside their destroyed car along Al-Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024 (reissued 05 April 2024). (EPA)
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Australia to Appoint ‘Special Adviser’ on Probe into Israel Airstrike

Clothes of members of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) inside their destroyed car along Al-Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024 (reissued 05 April 2024). (EPA)
Clothes of members of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) inside their destroyed car along Al-Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024 (reissued 05 April 2024). (EPA)

Australia's government said on Saturday it would appoint a special adviser to work with Israel to ensure "full confidence" in investigations into an airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers including an Australian.

"The government will appoint a special adviser who we have requested the Israelis work with so we can be advised about the appropriateness of the process," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a televised media conference in Adelaide.

"We want to have full confidence in the transparency and accountability of any investigation and we will continue to work to achieve that."

The Israeli military on Friday dismissed two officers and formally reprimanded senior commanders after an inquiry into this week's deadly airstrike on the aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, found serious errors and breaches of procedure.

Wong described the dismissals as "necessary first steps" but said the government had told Israel in a letter sent overnight that "initial responses suggest that the gravity of the death of seven humanitarian workers is yet to be appreciated by the Israeli government".

"This cannot be brushed aside," Wong said, adding that she expected all evidence in the investigations to be preserved.

Along with Frankcom, the airstrike killed citizens of Britain and Poland, Palestinians and a dual citizen of the US and Canada. Those killed were working for the charity World Central Kitchen.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week said he spoke with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and conveyed Australia's anger and concern at Frankcom's death.

Netanyahu has called the deaths a "tragic event in which Israeli forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants in the Gaza Strip".



Palestinians in Gaza Hope for a Ceasefire as They Endure War's Harsh Conditions

07 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al Balah: A Palestinian woman bakes bread inside a tent at a make-shift camp for the internally displaced in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al Balah: A Palestinian woman bakes bread inside a tent at a make-shift camp for the internally displaced in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Palestinians in Gaza Hope for a Ceasefire as They Endure War's Harsh Conditions

07 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al Balah: A Palestinian woman bakes bread inside a tent at a make-shift camp for the internally displaced in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al Balah: A Palestinian woman bakes bread inside a tent at a make-shift camp for the internally displaced in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip still have hope that Israel’s 15-month war with Hamas will end soon, as both sides appear to be inching toward a ceasefire deal.
“What we are living is not a life. Nobody could bear the situation we’re experiencing for a single day,” said Munawar al-Bik, a displaced woman from Gaza City.
“We wake up at night to the sounds of men crying, because of the bad situation,” al-Bik said. “The situation is unbearable, we have no energy left, we want it to end today.”
She spoke to The Associated Press on a dusty road in the southern city of Khan Younis beside the rubble of a destroyed building. Behind her, a sea of makeshift tents filled with displaced families stretched into the distance.
Muhammad Zaqout, a displaced man from Gaza City, said he’s sick of children being killed daily, of the destruction and displacement.
In recent months, families who fled their homes in Gaza have had little access to clean water or enough food to eat, and they struggle to cope with harsh winter conditions that have killed several babies from hypothermia in recent weeks.
Issam Saqr, displaced from Khan Younis, said he hopes the ceasefire “will happen today — before tomorrow!”