Australian PM says Israel’s explanation for aid worker deaths unsatisfactory
Israel is yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the death of seven aid workers last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
Israel said on Friday its soldiers mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when air strikes killed the mostly international group of World Central Kitchen staff, including Australian national “Zomi” Frankcom.
Albanese said the explanation for the deaths isn’t adequate. Given that almost 200 aid workers have been killed in the conflict, Israel also needs to provide more information about what it will do to prevent similar events in the future, he added.
“We don’t find the explanations to be satisfactory to this point,” he said in an interview on state broadcaster ABC. “We need proper accountability, we need full transparency about the circumstances, and I think that is what the Australian public would expect.”
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan call on Israel to halt its war on Gaza
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have demanded that Israel end its military operations in Gaza and seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in line with United Nations resolutions.
The two countries made the demands in a joint statement after a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Mecca.
The two sides called for international efforts “to halt Israeli military operations in Gaza, mitigate humanitarian impact and … pressure Israel to cease hostilities, adhere to international law, and facilitate unhindered humanitarian aid access to Gaza”, according to the statement.
They also discussed the need for a peace process in accordance with UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative “aimed at finding a just and comprehensive solution for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
Palestinian lawyer from Gaza builds Israel genocide case in Italy
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/8/in-italy-a-palestinian-lawyer-who-left-gaza-builds-israel-genocide-case
Piles of court documents in English and Arabic filled the desk and covered the floor of Triestino Mariniello’s home office for much of March in Messina, a city in southern Italy overlooking Mediterranean waters on one side and the smoking Etna volcano on the other.
Here, far from the war, a team of lawyers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCGR) in Gaza, to which Mariniello belongs, worked last month on their attempt to prosecute Israel for genocide.
“We thought it was a good way to try and be more productive in a place where you can actually detach yourself from the constant horrors, even though that may seem impossible these days,” Mariniello told Al Jazeera.
“We also considered this as an opportunity for our colleague from Gaza to catch a breath after what he’s been going through.”
