Australia seeks charges over a 2024 Israeli airstrike in Gaza that
killed an Australian aid worker
[February 11, 2026]
By ROD McGUIRK
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia is demanding criminal charges over
a 2024 Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven
people, including an Australian aid worker, the country's prime minister
said Wednesday in a case that has drawn sweeping condemnation and
strained relations between the two countries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed the request to visiting
Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting earlier in the day.
Australian Zomi Frankcom was one of four World Central Kitchen aid
workers killed by an Israeli drone on April 1, 2024. The other aid
workers were an American-Canadian dual citizen, a Palestinian and a
Polish national. Three British security staff were also killed in the
same airstrike.
There was no immediate response on Albanese's request from Herzog, who
visited the national capital, Canberra, on Wednesday after spending two
days in Sydney, where he comforted Jews reeling from an antisemitic
attack at Bondi Beach in December that left 15 dead.
Herzog's visit triggers controversy
Though Australia's major political parties largely back Herzog's visit,
Albanese spoke in Parliament on Wednesday to several lawmakers who
opposed it, accusing the Israeli leader of inciting genocide in Gaza and
inflaming community tensions within Australia.
The prime minister defended the visit and said it was an opportunity to
“raise the issue” of the killed aid workers.
“That’s one of the reasons why you have dialogue in a respectful way; to
get outcomes and to advance Australia’s national interests,” he told
Parliament.
Four months after the aid convoy strike, an Australian inquiry found the
airstrike resulted from procedural failures and errors on the part of
the Israeli military.
Albanese said it was a “tragedy and an outrage” and that he made clear
Australia's "expectation that there be transparency about Israel’s
ongoing investigation into the incident.”
"We continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate
criminal charges,” he added.
Israel's president describes a ‘very emotional’ visit
Herzog told reporters that his visit has been “very emotional” in the
wake of the suffering the Bondi massacre had caused Sydney's Jewish
community.
“It’s also an opportunity to bring the relations between our nations on
a new beginning and a better future," Herzog said outside Albanese’s
office.
“I think the relations between us do not depend only on the issue of
Israel and the Palestinians and the conflict but has a much broader
base,” he added. "We should, together, make sure that it’s uplifted to
new directions.”
Mainstream Jewish groups in Australia have welcomed the visit of Herzog,
a former leader of the centrist Labor Party who now plays a largely
ceremonial role.
Albanese and Herzog dined on Tuesday night at the prime minister’s
official residence on Sydney Harbor before flying together to Canberra
on Wednesday morning in an Australian air force jet.
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Demonstrators rally at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia,
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, to protest the visit by Israeli President
Isaac Herzog. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
Protests against Israel mark Herzog's visit
Hundreds of demonstrators, some waving Palestinian flags, and
several lawmakers gathered outside Parliament House to protest
Herzog's presence.
On Monday, as Herzog arrived in Sydney, thousands of demonstrators
rallied there and also in downtown Melbourne. Australia’s two
largest cities are home to 85% of Australia’s Jewish population.
Mehreen Faruqi, the Muslim deputy leader of the influential Greens
party, told protesters outside Parliament House on Wednesday that
Herzog was not welcome in Australia.
She condemned Albanese and New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns
for police using pepper spray and aggressive tactics in clashes with
protesters in Sydney on Monday. Police were given increased powers
to arrest protesters due to Herzog’s visit.
“It is shameful that the premier of New South Wales and the prime
minister of Australia are offering warm handshakes, photo
opportunities and canapés to a war criminal, to a war criminal who
has incited genocide, while those who are fighting for peace, who
are protesting against the genocide, are attacked and assaulted and
thrown to the ground,” Faruqi told the crowd, many of whom chanted
“arrest Herzog.”
David Pocock, an independent senator and former captain of
Australia’s rugby team, also joined the demonstration outside
Parliament.
“It was the wrong decision to invite President Herzog at this time
when we have seen so much strain on communities and tension in
communities across the country,” Pocock told Australian Broadcasting
Corp.
A heavy police presence at the Sydney rally on Monday prevented
demonstrators marching from the Sydney Town Hall. Police arrested 27
demonstrators and charged nine, mostly with assaulting police.
Minns defended the police actions, saying that if the protesters had
marched from the town hall, they might have clashed with thousands
of mourners of the Bondi massacre who had gathered at an event with
Herzog nearby.
Before returning to Israel, Herzog will visit Melbourne, where
protests are planned for Thursday afternoon. In Melbourne, the
Israeli president is to visit the ruins of the Adass Israel
Synagogue, torched in late 2024.
Australia accused Iran of directing that arson attack and expelled
Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi last August.
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