Anthony Albanese says Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed condolences and that Israel “has accepted responsibility” for an attack that killed Australian Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom and several of her aid worker colleagues in Gaza.
In an early morning phone call, the Israeli prime minister told Albanese he would commit to a “thorough investigation into what happened here”.
“I expressed Australia’s anger and concern at the death of Zomi Frankcom,” Albanese told reporters on Wednesday morning.
“This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity. This is completely unacceptable. The Israeli government has accepted responsibility for this and Prime Minister Netanyahu conveyed his condolences to the family of Zomi Frankcom and to Australia as a result of this tragedy.”
Netanyahu wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “Israel deeply regrets the tragic incident which claimed the lives of seven humanitarian aid workers” and that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) had begun “conducting a swift and transparent investigation”.
“We will make our findings public,” Netanyahu added.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the convoy Frankcom was travelling in, marked with the logo of the food charity Central World Kitchen, was hit three times because of “suspicion that an armed Hamas operative had joined the foreign volunteers”.
Citing security sources, Haaretz reported the suspected militant had remained behind in a warehouse where the convoy had stopped. When three of the aid group’s cars left the warehouse, an IDF unit “responsible for securing the traffic route ordered the UAV operators to attack one of the vehicles with a missile”.
“Some of the passengers were seen getting out of the car after the missile hit and moving to one of the other two. They continued their journey and even informed those responsible for them that they had been attacked, but seconds later another missile hit their vehicle. The third car in the convoy approached them, and the passengers began to transfer into it wounded people who survived the second attack — in order to keep them away from any danger. But then a third missile was fired that hit them,” the newspaper reported.
In another story, Haaretz quoted a source in the IDF’s intelligence branch who said the command “knows exactly what the cause of the attack was — in Gaza, everyone does as he pleases”.
The other victims in the attack included 27-year-old Said Issam Abu Taha, a Palestinian; and Damian Sobol, 36, a Polish national.
Frankcom, 43, was born in Melbourne, earned a degree from the Swinburne University of Technology, and worked for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia before beginning a five-year stint with World Central Kitchen.
The Associated Press reported several aid organisations would suspend operations in Gaza as a result of the attack. A report last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said there was a risk famine could occur in Gaza by the end of May if the population there did not get access to essential supplies.
“Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024,” the report said.
More than 196 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October, according to figures from the US-funded Aid Worker Security Database, the BBC reported.
What should Australia’s response be to the death of Zomi Frankcom? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
Wouldn’t put 2 bob on Netanyahu’s words of regret. He couldn’t give a stuff! His aim is to basically clear all Palestinians from the strip. to go with his previous and continuing land grabs in the west bank. I hold the war-mongering USA mainly responsible for supporting this genocide. If the stopped supplying arms the war would stop in a week.
Just one phone call is needed announcing halt to the money flow and arms deliveries and sanctions.
But for that to happen the decision makers (not just in the US) need to be concerned about the Palestinians and the circumstances they’ve been forced to live in for the best part of the last 100 years. And they’re very clearly are not.
They’d also need to acknowledge that taking land from people living there and giving it to other people and the resulting violence, dispossession and occupation are the problem and not the religion or nationality of the newcomers. Palestinians wouldn’t like what’s been done to them one bit more if it was done by the Chinese or Norse gods worshipping Vikings.
To quote Alexei Sayle, ‘They lie, and they lie, and they lie, and they lie…’
So the Israeli army will investigate itself just like police forces do here Brace-as they say in the journo biz- for a fog of war explanation which will be embraced by Albo & Associates
Given the number of aid workers killed this has been a very foggy war
The Israeli Offensive Force is a law unto itself and not one of its evil members will be called to account. Any report Israel releases will be a joke.
The most disciplined and moral army in the world, allegedly.
How much longer can Israel, specifically Netanyahu get away with telling these baldfaced lies before we start calling this what it is (genocide).
For a country that prides itself on its intelligence capabilities and is also the country that gave us ‘Pegasus’, they get a lot of the information ‘wrong’ as it relates to Hamas.
So far it looks like their enablers think they can sit it out. I guess, they expected the protests to go away fairly quickly and are surprised that they didn’t, but it looks like they’re pretty determined to give it a go. The international community (what the West likes to call itself to give the impression that the support for whatever they want is bigger than it actually is) never cared about Palestinians and wasn’t bothered about their fate, but Western deaths – that’s a different story. Should more of that start occurring that will be a problem too close to home to ignore.