UK, Canada and Australia Condemn Israel Over Gaza Aid Worker Killings Probe

The UK, Canada and Australia have condemned Israel's decision not to launch a criminal investigation into the 2024 strikes on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza that killed seven humanitarian workers, calling the decision "shameful" and demanding justice and accountability.

The three countries said the victims and their families deserved justice and accountability, while criticising the timing of Israel's announcement on World Humanitarian Day. The seven victims were three British nationals, a Pole, an Australian, a Canadian and a dual US-Canadian citizen.

In a joint statement, the three foreign ministries said: "The victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf."

The statement said that on 1 April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired on the WCK convoy as it was delivering food to civilians in Gaza. BBC reported that the three countries had been pressing Israel for more than two years to swiftly and thoroughly consider the case and hold those responsible to account.

They said Israel's announcement on World Humanitarian Day, when the world was honouring the courage and sacrifice of humanitarian workers, was "particularly egregious".

The three countries also described the WCK attack as "one of countless incidents in Gaza where there has been no accountability". They said Gaza remains "the deadliest place to deliver aid", with 186 humanitarian workers killed in 2025.

The statement urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and take further steps to ensure humanitarian workers can carry out their duties safely.

IDF cites 'serious failures'

In a statement on Wednesday, the IDF said an armed guard travelling with the convoy had not been flagged to the military before the convoy set off and that he had been falsely identified as a Hamas fighter.

The IDF also accused the convoy of deviating from the route co-ordinated with the military.

Despite what it described as "serious failures" in the process that led to the killings, the IDF said: "The decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct."

Israel's ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, defended the decision, saying "there was no criminal intention" and therefore "no criminal responsibility".

Australia had earlier summoned Newman over the decision. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her country was "outraged" by the Israeli government's decision and said there were still many "unanswered questions" about the strikes.

Wong questioned why, if the first strike on the convoy was "a catastrophic error", two further strikes followed just minutes apart.

Poland's foreign ministry also said on Thursday that it was "very disappointed" by the decision and had summoned Israel's ambassador in Warsaw, BBC reported.

World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres described the decision as "wrong" and "painful for all of us", and called for an independent commission to investigate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly responded to the latest statement from the UK, Australia and Canada. He previously said the military had "unintentionally" killed the volunteers.

UK-Israel dispute over West Bank settlements

The joint statement came after a harsh exchange between UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar over Israel's plans to open tenders for the construction of about 1,200 settlement homes in the strategically important E1 area of the occupied West Bank, east of Jerusalem.

Miliband condemned the publication of the tender as "an unacceptable and destructive act" and called on Israel to "halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion".

Saar rejected Miliband's statement "outright".

"The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom," he wrote on social media.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, while plans to build in the so-called E1 area have long been internationally condemned.

Other Gaza killings to be investigated

While the IDF decided not to launch a criminal investigation into the strikes on the WCK convoy, it said in the same statement that it would carry out a criminal investigation into the killing by Israeli forces of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and six of her relatives in Gaza in 2024.

It also said it would similarly investigate the killing of 15 Palestinians, including medics and a UN worker, in March 2025. Their bodies were found buried in shallow graves a week later next to crushed vehicles.