This special report by Declassified UK’s Phil Miller and John McEvoy in Britain, and Declassified Australia’s Peter Cronau.
Vital evidence of the killings of seven international aid workers in Gaza in April is being withheld by Britain and Israel who are each refusing to release publicly electronic recordings made that fateful day.
Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was killed in an Israeli drone attack, along with six colleagues delivering aid for World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza, on 1 April.
No open inquiry has been held, and no judicial punishment has been handed out to the perpetrators by Israeli authorities, with only two Israeli Defence Force members being dismissed and three reprimanded.
Israel holds detailed audio from the drone footage of the attacks, but has not shown it to nor handed it over to Australian authorities.
The Australian government’s ‘special adviser’, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, after travelling to Israel, concluded in his report to the Australian government on 2 August, that “the IDF strike on the WCK aid workers was not knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK”.
However, Binskin noted without comment that the audio of the drone footage had been withheld by Israel from his offical Australian mission:
“All requests were supported, including viewing the 90-minute un-edited Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) footage (without audio) of the WCK convoy and subsequent strikes.” [Ed: Emphasis added]
The head of World Central Kitchen José Andrés earlier called for release of the audio. “We need to be saying, ‘what was the conversations, the radio conversations between the different officers and soldiers in charge of saying that those cars were a target because they were an imminent threat?’”
Mal Frankcom, brother of Zomi told Australian ABC News today that he asked Binskin why he didn’t access the audio, and he received an extraordinary answer: “I asked him about that and he said that he was told that it was in Hebrew and it wouldn’t be understood.”
“I think they should be able to get a translation transcript of the audio communication in the lead up to the strike,” said Frankcom. “It’s also important to know whether there was anything said, not just the detail of what happened, but also the state of mind of the people making the decisions.
“It’s another missing piece of the puzzle.”
Australia’s joint US satellite surveillance base at Pine Gap has had a focus on the Gaza conflict since it began in October. It is not known whether the base analysts were engaged in geolocation targeting of the convoy for the Israeli drone attack, nor whether the base collected intelligence data of the attacks.
The Defence Department has declined to provide more that generalised answers to detailed questions put to them on Pine Gap’s operations by Declassified Australia.
Questions were put to the Department of Foreign Affairs seeking details about ‘special adviser’ Binskin’s lack of access to the withheld Israeli drone audio, with no response received by deadline. [Ed: A DFAT response received the day after publication did not address the question about the missing audio, instead stating, “The Australian Government will continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges”.]
In the UK, our independent colleagues at Declassified UK have been pursuing the Ministry of Defence who is also refusing to hand over another missing piece of the puzzle about the killing of the aid workers.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) has flown over 200 spy flights over Gaza from its airbase in Cyprus by its Shadow R1 surveillance plane, including on the day of the killing of the aid workers.
Declassified UK has identified that over five hours of video footage were filmed that day over Gaza by the RAF surveillance plane, and reports further that the Defence Ministry is refusing its release. Their full report is published below.
_
Those killed in the World Central Kitchen convoy on 1 April were Australian Zomi Frankcom, Jacob Flickinger, an American-Canadian dual national; Damian Soból from Poland; Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, a Palestinian; and three British military veterans providing security: John Chapman, James Kirby and James ‘Jim’ Henderson.
The unreleased video footage was taken by a Royal Air Force (RAF) surveillance plane which spent approximately five hours above Gaza that day, apparently returning to base in Cyprus minutes before the airstrikes were launched.
The RAF may therefore have collected footage of events leading up to the tragedy, which could provide clarity over Israeli claims that “Hamas gunmen” were seen near the convoy.
World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres criticised Israel’s investigation into the incident, in which two senior officers were fired over what was deemed a “grave mistake”.
Andres told America’s ABC: “The investigation should be much more deeper…we need more information. We need to see better quality videos.”
Britain has now emerged as an unlikely source of such footage, having sent more than 200 spy flights over Gaza supposedly to help Israel locate hostages held by Hamas.
The UK military confirmed in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response to Declassified that “video footage of Gaza from the Shadow R1 [surveillance] flight on 1 April is held.”
However the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claims the tape is exempt from disclosure on security grounds and hinted that its contents may relate to UK special forces or MI6.
Declassified intends to appeal the FOI decision, which it shared with some relatives of the deceased aid workers.
Jim Henderson’s father Neil told Declassified: “This footage should not be kept hidden from our family.” He said in a written statement that “the UK government must urgently disclose any evidence it holds” which might “shed light on why James was wrongly targeted by Israel”.
He added: “Jim was an honest, caring, loyal and hard working young man who served his country and was passionate in helping others without concern for his own safety and welfare.”
Forz Khan, the Henderson family’s lawyer, said he is “writing to the new Labour government to demand answers on whether UK military and intelligence assistance to Israel has been used in attacks on British citizens in Gaza”.
Evidence to International Criminal Court
The MoD press office did not answer Declassified’s questions about whether it would show the footage to bereaved families, or if it was potentially relevant for investigations into their deaths.
It also ignored a request to clarify precisely which areas of Gaza and at what times the footage was recorded.
A MoD spokesperson only said: “While the Prime Minister has continued to call for an immediate ceasefire, we have been clear that the Royal Air Force has been operating unarmed surveillance flights over Gaza solely for the purpose of helping to locate hostages.
“In line with our international obligations, we would consider any formal request from the International Criminal Court to provide information relating to investigations into war crimes.”
This statement signifies a slight shift in UK government policy since Labour’s Keir Starmer became prime minister.
Conservative defence secretary Grant Shapps was asked five times in the last parliament whether the UK government would give the ICC any spy flight footage that showed Israel committing war crimes.
Shapps, who lost his seat in July’s election, refused to directly answer the questions, claiming “the number one concern” was “to find and locate British hostages, and that’s where that surveillance work will focus”.
Declassified asked the ICC prosecutor’s office whether it would formally request access to Britain’s surveillance footage of Gaza, as part of its probe into potential war crimes by Israel and Hamas.
A spokesperson said it “is working with all relevant actors including national authorities, to collect information relevant to this investigation” but is “unable to provide further information with respect to details of its investigative activities in response to your request at this stage”.
As signatories to the Rome Statute, the Genocide Convention and the Convention on Torture, the UK has a responsibility to investigate and prosecute those who have committed core international crimes.
Australian human rights lawyer and United Nations special rapporteur, Professor Ben Saul, told Declassified:
“If a country possesses possible evidence of a war crime, it has a duty to investigate with a view to either prosecuting any suspects or sharing the evidence with other countries interested to genuinely prosecute, or with the International Criminal Court given its active investigation in Israel/Palestine.”
Saul, who is a UN expert on countering terrorism while respecting human rights, added: “Another method of seeking to ensure respect for humanitarian law could be to publicly disclose the evidence so as to expose the conduct and deter further violations.”
Eye in the sky
The UK spy flight took off from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s air base on Cyprus, at 5pm local time on 1 April and landed at 10:49pm, flight tracking data shows.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed the aid worker convoy departed from a humanitarian pier in Gaza at 10pm, with “armed suspects” allegedly boarding the vehicles at 10:28pm.
Three drone strikes were launched four minutes apart, at 11:09pm, 11:11pm, and 11:13pm.
News of the airstrikes on the aid workers began to surface on Palestinian social media channels slightly earlier, at around 10:30pm, according to the New York Times.
The flight time between Akrotiri and Gaza is around 30 minutes, suggesting the British surveillance plane was heading back to base over the eastern Mediterranean when the attack occurred, or had just landed.
It may have recorded footage of the aid convoy’s movements along Gaza’s coastline shortly before the vehicles were systematically targeted by Israeli drones.
This footage could be used to cross-reference the IDF’s official investigation, and paint a more precise picture of what actually happened.
Israel’s investigation was conducted by Yoav Har-Even, the former head of Israeli state-owned weapons firm Rafael who once led the IDF’s Operations Directorate.
Jim Henderson’s father Neil said Israel’s internal probe “by its very nature will not be independent” and said it would be “totally unacceptable” for UK authorities to trust that process and “an abdication of the responsibility that the British government has towards its citizens”.
Al-Shifa hospital attacked same day
Israel’s attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy was not the only atrocity to occur in Gaza on 1 April.
That day, Israeli forces withdrew from al-Shifa hospital, once the biggest and best-equipped medical facility in the Gaza Strip.
They left behind a trail of death and destruction, with the hospital buildings raised to the ground and around 400 Palestinians killed.
“The occupation destroyed and burnt all buildings inside al-Shifa medical complex”, said Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director general of the Gaza government’s media office.
“They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard. This is a crime against humanity”, he continued.
Four mass graves were later discovered in the courtyards of al-Shifa, with the decaying bodies sticking out of mounds of sand which had been piled up by combat bulldozers. Some of them still had catheters attached to them.
Another British surveillance plane had flown over Gaza earlier on 1 April, taking off at 1:03pm and returning at 7:01pm local time. The MoD previously ignored a question about whether its surveillance flights had gathered evidence of mass graves at al-Shifa hospital.
Mission creep – surveillance or battle support
Britain commenced its spy flights directly over Gaza in December, having previously only flown up to the edge of international air space.
The planes are estimated to have now recorded 1,000 hours of footage from the war zone, compiling a unique archive of a conflict which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians.
Although the UK government claims the flights are solely focused on hostage rescue, the IDF’s entire operation in Gaza is ultimately based on that premise.
As such, it seems plausible that intelligence from British spy flights could be used by the IDF for military operations in Gaza.
Former MP Kenny MacAskill asked the Ministry of Defence in May “to which Israeli authorities information from the RAF surveillance flights over Gaza… has been passed”.
Then defence minister Leo Docherty responded that “information relating to hostage rescue is passed to the Israeli authorities which provide the best chance of locating hostages”.
Whether the UK government has imposed restrictions on Israel’s use of shared intelligence for military operations remains unclear.
The New York Times recently revealed that “intelligence collection and analysis teams from the United States and Britain have been in Israel throughout the war”.
An Israeli official said that “the outside intelligence” provided by Britain had given them “added value”, claiming that the British team was not involved in “the planning or execution of the military operations to rescue the hostages”.
_
Before you go…
If you appreciate Declassified Australia’s investigations, remember that it all costs both time and money. Join more than 9,000 followers and get our Newsletter for updates. And we’d really appreciate if you could subscribe to Declassified Australia to support our ongoing investigations. Thank you.
