Australia doesn’t find Israel’s explanation on aid workers’ killing ‘satisfactory': Premier Albanese

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA(AA) – Israel is yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the death of seven aid workers last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday and appointed a senior former military official to review Tel Aviv’s inquiry into the incident.

Israel says its soldiers mistakenly killed the seven staffers of World Central Kitchen, including Australian "Zomi" Frankcom. The military said it fired two officers and reprimanded three others following an investigation into the attack.

Albanese told public broadcaster ABC that he expected Tel Aviv would fully cooperate with Mark Binskin as Australia’s special adviser on Israel’s response to the missile strikes.

“We would expect that someone of Mr. Binskin's stature, frankly, will be given every cooperation from the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli government,” he said. “We don’t find the explanations to be satisfactory to this point."

He said the killing of seven aid workers has “shaken the world" and it is “unacceptable” that almost 200 aid workers have died since the conflict began in October last year.

Binskin, who served as Australian Defense Force chief from 2014 to 2018, will advise the government on the “sufficiency and appropriateness" of steps taken by Tel Aviv in response to the fatal attack.