Achi news desk-
Melbourne-born Lezaumi “Zumi” Frankcom was among the seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in the airstrike.
In addition to Frankcom, among the dead are three British citizens, a Polish citizen, a dual American-Canadian citizen and a Palestinian.
“I expressed Australia’s anger and concern over the death of Zumi Frankcom,” Albany said this morning.
“This is someone who volunteered abroad to provide aid through this charity. This is completely unacceptable.”
According to him, there is a “strong need” for a transparent investigation into what led to the airstrike.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has committed to full transparency about how this tragedy could have happened,” Albanese said.
Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Swank and US President Joe Biden, also expressed their horror at the airstrike.
“(Frankcom) is an Australian we can all be proud of, someone who has not only been in Gaza helping people in need, but has also previously provided support to people in Bangladesh, Pakistan, here in Australia after the bushfires.” Albany said.
“This was someone who was clearly committed to the good of her humanity, and someone who was – whose loss is felt very much by her family, but I think Australians do too.”
Albanese said he also reiterated Australia’s support for the two-state situation in the region, helping to reach the Palestinians unhindered, and the fear of a possible ground attack in Rafah, where many refugees have gathered.
“I repeated Australia’s unequivocal condemnation of the events of October 7 and of Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours there has been a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said, according to the BBC, in a message delivered in Hebrew.
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“It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this does not happen again.”
Albanese said the incident would likely add to ongoing global concern about the civilian casualties in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
“I think people, when they look at what’s happening in Gaza, are very clear about the extraordinary loss of life there, and I believe Australians are very concerned about that,” he said.
Albania said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was working to retrieve Franckum’s body.
