SYDNEY: Australia has said it will appoint a special adviser to work with Israel to ensure “transparency” in an investigation into an air strike on Gaza that killed seven aid workers, including an Australian.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia wants detailed answers as to how aid workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen were killed by Israeli forces last Monday.
The group included 43-year-old Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, as well as British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian employees.
Wong told reporters Saturday that information about the strike provided so far by Israel was not sufficient and that the Australian government wants its own “suitably qualified person” to monitor the investigation.
“The government will appoint a special adviser who we have requested the Israelis work with so we can be advised about the appropriateness of the process,” Wong said.
“We want to have full confidence in the transparency and accountability of any investigation.”
Israel’s military said it fired two officers over the killing of the aid workers in Gaza, where humanitarian groups say famine is imminent.
But the rare admission of wrongdoing by Israel did not quell calls for an independent probe.
The deaths of the aid workers led to a tense call between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wong said details of the special adviser will be announced in the “very near future.”
The war in Gaza began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack from the territory by Hamas militants resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Palestinian militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including more than 30 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Australia to appoint special adviser on probe over Gaza aid workers deaths
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Australia to appoint special adviser on probe over Gaza aid workers deaths
Sudan paramilitary advances near Ethiopia border
- Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground
KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitary forces have advanced on army positions near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, according to the group and an eyewitness who spoke to AFP Wednesday.
Control over Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, bordering both Ethiopia and South Sudan, is split between the army and a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allies of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
In a statement released Tuesday, the SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, said they had “liberated the strategic city of Deim Mansour and areas of Bashir Nuqu and Khor Al-Budi.”
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF. In February of last year, the RSF announced a surprise alliance with the SPLM-N, securing experienced fighters, land and border access.
Deim Mansour lies between the SPLM-N stronghold Yabus, birthplace of their deputy commander Joseph Tuka, and the army-held town of Kurmuk, which hosts a large army contingent.
Babiker Khaled, who fled to Kurmuk, told AFP that SPLM-N fighters began amassing in the forests around Deim Mansour on Sunday.
“The shelling began on Monday, they entered the city on Tuesday,” he said, adding that “some people fled into Ethiopia, others arrived in Kurmuk.”
From its foothold in the southern Blue Nile, a thin strip of land jutting south between Ethiopia and South Sudan, the SPLM-N maintains reported supply lines from both countries, building on decades-old links.
Close to three years of war in Sudan have left tens of thousands dead and around 11 million displaced, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also torn the country apart, with the army holding the center, north and east of Sudan while the RSF and its allies dominate the west and parts of the south.
Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground.
On Tuesday, the army broke a paramilitary siege on South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, days after breaking another on the nearby city of Dilling.
