Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is condemning Israel’s decision not to pursue a criminal investigation into the 2024 airstrikes that killed Canadian aid worker Jacob Flickinger and six of his World Central Kitchen colleagues.“The IDF’s decision not to pursue a criminal investigation into the killing of seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers, including Jacob Flickinger, a Canadian citizen, is unacceptable,” Anand said Thursday.Israel announced Wednesday that it would not open a criminal investigation into the attack, despite the former Trudeau government demanding a fully open, transparent, independent and rapid investigation after Flickinger’s death.Anand said serious failures had been identified in the conduct of the strike.“Closing the case without further accountability leaves their families without the answers they have sought for more than two years,” she said.Flickinger, a 33-year-old Canadian-American and former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, was killed on April 1, 2024, while helping deliver food in the Gaza Strip..Three Israeli strikes hit three World Central Kitchen vehicles travelling in a convoy whose movements had been co-ordinated with the Israeli military. The vehicles displayed the organization’s logo.Israel’s military said individuals travelling with the convoy were mistakenly identified as armed Hamas operatives.Its military prosecutor concluded that serious failures in the identification process did not create a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct by the commanders involved.The military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others following its original internal review in 2024. That review described the strike as a grave mistake and a serious violation of military procedures.World Central Kitchen rejected Israel’s latest account and renewed its demand for an independent investigation.The organization said the military’s explanation conflated separate events, obscured what happened and attempted to shift responsibility for the attack.Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong publicly expressed outrage over the decision Thursday. Australian aid worker Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom was also killed in the convoy.Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East said the decision represented a failure to hold Israel accountable.“This is a complete failure of accountability,” CJPME president Yara Shoufani said in a statement released Wednesday night.“Will Prime Minister Carney allow Israel to get away with the murder of a Canadian aid worker, with no consequences?”CJPME called on Carney to impose sanctions on Israel and hold officials responsible for the attack.The group said Canada should have explicitly supported World Central Kitchen’s demand for an independent third-party investigation rather than relying on Israel’s internal process.Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau condemned the strike in 2024 and said attacks on humanitarian workers “absolutely cannot happen.”Then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly also said Israel had to respect international humanitarian law and promised Canada would “make sure that is the case.”“Humanitarian workers delivering food and other life-saving assistance in conflict zones must be protected,” Anand said.“Canada expects international humanitarian law to be upheld and will continue pressing for a full accounting of what happened, along with justice for the seven workers who were killed and their families.”
