Britain, Australia and Canada have called the decision of the Israeli military authorities not to open a criminal investigation into the April ۲۰۲۴ airstrikes that hit a convoy of aid vehicles in Gaza “shameful”. The strikes killed seven humanitarian workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation.
WCK staff from the three countries were among the casualties of the attack, which prompted global outrage.
“This decision is both too little, and too late. The victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf. The World Central Kitchen attack is one of countless incidents in Gaza where there has been no accountability,” the countries’ joint statement said.
It continued: “In Gaza, humanitarian workers continue to work tirelessly to support civilians in desperate need, risking their lives whilst working in the most perilous conditions. Yet despite the fragile ceasefire, Gaza remains the deadliest place to deliver aid, with ۱۸۶ humanitarian workers killed in ۲۰۲۵.”
On Thursday, Australia’s government expressed “outrage” over the decision, while relatives said that Zomi Frankcom, the Australian among those killed, deserved more than an “internal, opaque process that ends with a short statement by the Israeli military absolving their soldiers of criminal wrongdoing.”
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, defended the decision.
The Polish government said on Thursday it was “very disappointed” and called for Israeli authorities to cooperate with Polish investigations into the incident. Damian Soból, a volunteer from Przemyśl, was also among the casualties.
In London, the Foreign Office said the UK was “appalled and angry” for the families of John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby, three British citizens who were killed in the attack.
WCK, which distributed food in Gaza throughout the war, said immediately after the lethal attack that it had coordinated with the military over the movement of its cars, which had the group’s logo on their roofs visible from the air.
“There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks, and there is nothing in this account that does so. The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive,” it said in a statement.
The IDF said on Wednesday that it had mistaken several individuals in the vehicles for armed Hamas military operatives, and that the WCK convoy had deviated from the previously coordinated route. But it concluded that “the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct”. Two officers were removed from their positions at the time and three others reprimanded.
One of the officers who was dismissed had reportedly signed an open letter earlier that year calling for Gaza to be deprived of aid. Israel imposed strict restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance during the conflict in Gaza, where experts declared a famine in August ۲۰۲۵.
The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday that its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in ۲۰۲۴, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing, as well as into the fatal shooting of ۱۵ paramedics in ۲۰۲۵.
Hind Rajab died after a desperate three-hour phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on ۲۹ January ۲۰۲۴ in which she pleaded for rescue. The family’s Kia Picanto car had been hit as they sought to flee a new Israeli offensive into Gaza City. All the other passengers were also killed.
The IDF repeatedly denied its troops had been in the area near the incident, but investigations by media and others found evidence that strongly suggested nearby Israeli tanks were responsible.
The IDF said that as part of the its obligations under international law and Israeli domestic law it examined “exceptional incidents that occurred during combat”, but experts said criminal misconduct investigations into Israeli troops over the killing of Palestinians very rarely lead to convictions.
