STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
Jacob Flickinger is shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout-World Central Kitchen (Mandatory Credit)
By The Canadian Press

‘Shameful’: Canada, U.K., Australia rebuke Israel for decision on aid workers’ deaths

Aug 21, 2026 | 9:45 AM

OTTAWA — Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom denounced on Friday Israel’s decision not to pursue criminal charges over a military strike that killed a convoy of humanitarian aid workers in 2024.

The strike killed seven aid workers, including three British nationals, an Australian and a dual U.S. and Canadian national, who were all working for the U.S.-based World Central Kitchen organization at the time. A Palestinian and a Polish national were also killed in the blast.

A joint statement issued Friday by the foreign ministries of Canada, Australia and the U.K., said the decision by Israel’s military prosecutor against a criminal investigation into the deadly strike, without offering further explanation, is “shameful.”

“Announcing this decision on World Humanitarian Day, while the world honoured the courage and sacrifice of humanitarians, was particularly egregious. This decision is both too little and too late,” the joint statement said.

“The victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf.”

It further said this is just one of many incidents in Gaza where there has been no accountability and that Israel “must do more to ensure that humanitarian staff can carry out their work safely.”

It noted some 186 humanitarian workers were killed in Gaza in 2025.

The April 2024 airstrike hit a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles delivering aid workers. Among the seven killed was Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old military veteran from Quebec.

A statement by Israel’s military on Wednesday said commanders mistook the aid workers as armed Hamas operatives, and their decisions in launching the attack “did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Thursday that decision was “unacceptable,” though did not say whether Canada would summon Israel’s ambassador as Australia did.

World Central Kitchen has called for an independent investigation, and said the military’s account of the strike was untrue, “muddies the story and shifts the blame.”

In 2024, former prime minister Justin Trudeau had called for an independent investigation following the aid workers’ deaths, and disputed a suggestion by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at that time that collateral deaths are a normal part of war.

Australia’s foreign minister said Thursday she had summoned Israel’s ambassador in Canberra to discuss the situation. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on Thursday that the conclusion by Israel that the aid worker deaths were not a criminal act was unacceptable but she did not say if she would be summoning the Israeli ambassador in Canada over it.

The Israeli military also announced Wednesday it decided not to take criminal action over the killings of four staffers from Doctors Without Borders in two separate instances in November 2023 and February 2024.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press



by The Canadian Press