Australia receives report into killing of aid worker
Australia has been handed a report into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom by the Israeli military.
Zomi Frankcom
Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said the investigation into the strike against seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza had been completed.
The report had been given to the countries of the killed foreigners and would be made public within 24 hours, he said.
“The independent investigation has already been presented to the ambassadors of the relevant nations, and we will be presenting them to the World Central Kitchen, I expect, tomorrow morning, and then we’ll be bringing them to the public as well,” Lt-Col Lerner said.
He said the military was sorry for the “very grave mistake” of “misidentification”.
Lt-Col Lerner said he expected the individual military members who were involved in the strike to face consequences.
“I don’t know the outcome, but if that is the situation, I would expect nothing less,” he said.
Asked if Israeli commanders on the ground were adhering to the rules of war following reports the strike was due to poor discipline, Lt-Col Lerner said any breach of standards should be dealt with.
“Perhaps even criminal charges if there’s been a very dire mistake,” he said.
The Israeli military spokesman said the investigation was completed outside of the IDF’s chain of command.
Lt-Col Lerner said investigators were provided with full access to all of the information, including the operational details and intelligence.
He wouldn’t confirm if footage of the deadly air strike would be made public.
Asked if the strike was something that just happened in the war, Lt-Col Lerner said the conflict was always filled with tragedies and civilians since the dawn of time had been “caught up”.
“We have to be better than that; we have to do better, and I think that is our message,” he said.
“We need to make sure that when people that are coming to do good … they need to be able to work safely.”
AAP
