Statement: International Aid Workers - including an Australian - Killed in Israeli Airstrike
INTERNATIONAL AID WORKERS - INCLUDING AN AUSTRALIAN - KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE
The General Delegation of Palestine is shocked and grieved by reports that an Israeli airstrike killed seven international humanitarian aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver after the group helped to deliver desperately-needed humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. One of the casualties has been identified as Australian aid-worker Ms Zomi Frankcom.
Humanitarian relief personnel and UN employees must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law, and should never be targeted by attacks. This is not the first time that Israel has targeted humanitarian relief personnel during its genocidal onslaught on Gaza; since 7 October 2023, the United Nations has recorded an “unprecedented number of violations against its staff and facilities that surpass any other conflict around the world”, with at least 174 UN employees killed by Israeli airstrikes and bombardments in just five months. As reported by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), “Israel’s blatant and total disregard for the protection of Gaza’s medical facilities or humanitarian workers has made the provision of care and lifesaving assistance an almost impossible task.” These latest killings prove once again that Israel, the occupying Power, has no regard for international law, the binding measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or the international community’s calls to protect civilians and aid workers.
We urgently call on the international community, including Australia, to condemn this unacceptable and unjustifiable killing in the strongest terms and to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza to enable humanitarian relief personnel to continue their life-saving work and deliver sustainable, sufficient, unimpeded humanitarian aid to the starved and besieged Palestinian people in Gaza.
The General Delegation of Palestine wishes to express our sincere condolences to Ms Frankcom’s family, friends, and colleagues at the World Central Kitchen charity, and to the Australian government for the loss of such a brave and humanitarian citizen.