An Israeli strike that killed seven charity workers in a Gaza aid convoy was the result of “mistaken identification” and a raft of other serious failures, the Australian government found in a report released on Friday.
Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom was among a group of seven World Central Kitchen staff killed when their convoy – working to distribute food and water — was mistakenly hit by Israeli missiles in April.
Canberra is now pushing for Israel to apologise to the victims’ families and urging its military to rethink how it engages with aid groups in the Palestinian enclave.
The deaths of an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole triggered global outrage.
Former Australian air force chief Mark Binskin was tasked with monitoring Israel’s investigation.
His declassified report, released Friday, found three trucks in the aid convoy were “struck in relatively quick succession”.
An Israeli surveillance drone flagged the vehicles after noticing some of the charity’s security escort were carrying guns, Binskin found.
A “breakdown in situational awareness” and a sense of “confusion” led to the “mistaken identification” of these security staff.
Israeli commanders believed they were armed Hamas hijackers rather than civilian security, the report found.
Photos showed how one of the missiles obliterated the interior of a white aid truck after piercing a hole in its roof, which was emblazoned with the charity’s logo.
Another significant blunder was the failure to read the movement plan previously agreed on by the military and the charity.
Israel only discovered the lethal error when reports started circulating on social media about an hour later, the report concluded.
Aside from the litany of “serious failures” uncovered, Binskin’s report said Israel’s actions in the months following had been “timely” and “appropriate”.
