Israel finds no criminal wrongdoing in Frankcom killing

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has cleared its personnel of any criminal wrongdoing over a 2024 strike on a humanitarian convoy in Gaza, which killed seven aid workers including Australian Zomi Frankcom.What we know:The IDF said it had concluded there were serious failures that led soldiers to falsely identify a Hamas fighter was travelling in the convoy, which prompted the attack (ABC).The armed man travelling with the vehicles was a security guard “to protect it from seizure by armed actors in Gaza,” the IDF said in its statement. But the Israeli military said the guard’s presence had not been flagged with them prior to the convoy setting off (ABC).“Notwithstanding serious failures in the process that led to the assessment that Hamas operatives were travelling in the vehicles, the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct,” the IDF said (The Australian).World Central Kitchen, who Frankcom and the aid workers were volunteering for, said it fundamentally disagreed with the decision not to pursue a criminal investigation. “There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks … The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive” (SMH).Earlier on Wednesday, and prior to the IDF’s statement, Foreign Minister Penny Wong spoke at a Parliament House event attended by Frankcom’s family as she launched the Zomi Frankcom Humanitarian Award (SMH).“I want to make it clear that the Australian government continues to press the Israeli government for full accountability for the deaths of Zomi and her World Central Kitchen colleagues,” Wong said. “Zomi and her family deserve justice” (SMH).It comes as the IDF announced its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in Gaza in a separate incident, focusing on the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics (AP).