Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Tuesday the death of an Australian aid worker in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Gaza, saying his government expects “full accountability.”
Australian Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom was among five people killed, including a British aid worker and one from Poland, as well as a Palestinian driver.
“This is a human tragedy that should never have occurred that is completely unacceptable,” Albanese told reporters.
Albanese said humanitarian workers and all innocent civilians “need to be provided with protection.”
Frankcom worked with the charity World Central Kitchen, and the aid workers were killed hours after bringing in a new shipload of food to Gaza using a maritime route set up to get badly needed food to northern Gaza.
World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres said on social media he was “heartbroken and grieving” after losing “several of our sister and brothers in an IDF strike in Gaza.”
“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing,” Andres said. “It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.” It said it had been “been working closely with WCK” to provide aid to Palestinians.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the United States is “heartbroken and deeply troubled” by the deadly strike.
“Humanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened,” Watson said on X.
Earlier Monday, U.S. and Israeli officials held virtual talks about Israel’s plan for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza to root out more Hamas fighters, a prospective attack the U.S. opposes for fear it would endanger the more than 1.3 million Palestinians sheltering there.
Following the talks, the White House said Israel would take “into account” U.S. concerns over the planned offensive.
In a statement, the White House said the two sides had a “constructive engagement on Rafah” during two hours of videoconference talks, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The Israeli officials who attended the meeting included national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minster for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to the White House.
“The U.S. side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah. The Israeli side agreed to take these concerns into account and to have follow up discussions,” the statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “there is no victory without entering Rafah, and there is no victory without eliminating the Hamas battalions there.” Netanyahu has approved a military operational plan for an attack.
Israel has said it would protect the Palestinians from new warfare in Rafah, located just north of Gaza-Egyptian border, but has given no public indication where it would move them.
Most of the Palestinians sheltering in the area were ordered to move there by the Israeli military to escape clashes in northern Gaza in the earliest weeks of the 6-month-old conflict.
The high-level U.S.-Israeli talks took place a week after Netanyahu had called them off in protest of the U.S. failure to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. The U.S. abstained from the vote on the resolution a week ago, allowing it to pass, after previously vetoing other similar resolutions.
Following Monday’s secure video conference, the U.S. said it expected that “expert teams” would hold further talks in person.
The U.S. has been Israel’s staunchest ally in the fight against Hamas, which started the war with its shock October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israel tallies and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 32,700 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military says one-third of those killed have been militants.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
