Australia: Our relations with Israel are "going through tough times"

Sydney – Agencies: Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed “deep dismay” on Tuesday over Israel’s decision to close its criminal investigation into the killing of aid worker Zohra Frankum and her colleagues in the Gaza Strip. Wong summoned Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, and stated that she “has asked the Australian ambassador in Israel to convey our position directly to Israel, while the Australian government considers its next steps.” Following her meeting with the Israeli ambassador, Wong acknowledged that her country’s relationship with Israel is going through “difficult times.” She added, “The Australian government learned of Israel’s decision moments before it was announced, on World Humanitarian Day, an act that constitutes a profound insult to Zohra’s family, to humanitarian workers, and to all Australians.” Frankum, an Australian national, was among the staff of the US charity World Central Kitchen killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their convoy while they were distributing food and water in the devastated Gaza Strip in April 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the military had killed the volunteers “unintentionally.” However, the Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it would not open criminal investigations into their deaths. Speaking to journalists in Canberra, Wong said, “We have an Australian humanitarian worker who was killed not in a single strike, but in the context of three separate strikes on a humanitarian convoy.”