Australia's leader calls Israel's explanation for the deaths of aid workers "not good enough."

Australia has demanded full accountability and a transparent investigation from the Israeli Government.

The seven international aid workers that were killed in Gaza were killed for reasons that Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deemed "not good enough." Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, an Australian, was one of the people who perished in the strike on Monday. "This happens in war," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, acknowledging the Israel Defence Forces' airstrike on three cars transporting relief workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK). At a press conference on Thursday, Albanese seemed to make reference to that statement.

“We need to have accountability for how it's occurred. And what isn't good enough are the statements that have been made, including that this is just a product of war," he said. “This is against humanitarian law.”

Albanese said he spoke with Netanyahu on Wednesday morning, and was told Israel is "committed to a full and proper investigation."

"I want that to be transparent, and I want those findings to be made public so that we find out how exactly this can occur," Albanese told reporters Thursday.

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The nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK) is demanding an impartial, outside probe into the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza this week that resulted in the deaths of seven of its employees.

“We have asked the governments of Australia, Canada, the United States of America, Poland, and the United Kingdom to join us in demanding an independent, third-party investigation into these attacks, including whether they were carried out intentionally or otherwise violated international law. Yesterday, to ensure the integrity of the investigation, we asked the Israeli government to immediately preserve all documents, communications, video and/or audio recordings, and any other materials potentially relevant to the April 1 strikes,” World Central Kitchen said in a statement on Thursday.

Chair Javier Garcia said An independent investigation is the only way to determine the truth of what happened, ensure transparency and accountability for those responsible, and prevent future attacks on humanitarian aid workers.

Following the deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, a spontaneous protest was staged this afternoon outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) offices in Sydney.

Union members and members of the grassroots community organisation Families for Palestine attended the demonstration, which demanded an end to the killing of innocent civilians and humanitarian workers in Gaza.

UN humanitarians in Gaza have suspended operations at night for at least 48 hours in response to the killing of seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen on Tuesday.

During the midday briefing for reporters in New York on Wednesday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated that the move will enable additional assessment of the security concerns that affect both the people they are trying to serve and the personnel on the ground. Daytime operations are still underway, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), including continuous attempts to get food aid convoys into northern Gaza.

According to the IDF, the incident is being looked into, the strike was a "serious error," and it was not intended to hurt the relief workers. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military's chief of staff, expressed regret for the strike and called it "a mistake that followed a misidentification."

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