Israeli commander shows no remorse for Gaza strikes that killed 7 aid workers

The Israeli commander who ordered the 2024 drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in the Gaza Strip has defended his decision, saying he does not regret authorizing the attack.

“I’m not sorry for what I did,” Col. Nochi Mendel, who was dismissed as chief of staff of the Israeli army’s Nahal Brigade after the attack, told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC News.

The interview was conducted in October 2025 but published on Thursday following an Israeli military decision not to launch a criminal investigation or take further action against those involved.

Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, 43, and six colleagues were killed on April 1, 2024, when Israeli drones struck three clearly marked WCK vehicles traveling in a coordinated humanitarian convoy in central Gaza.

The three vehicles were hit separately over four minutes as survivors attempted to move from one car to another.

Mendel claimed that drone footage showed armed Palestinians mixing with WCK personnel near a warehouse in central Gaza and that an armed man later entered one of the vehicles.

He said personnel operating the drone from Palmachim air base had confirmed the alleged presence of an armed man before he authorized the strike.

Asked whether any armed Palestinians were killed, Mendel said: “Maybe one, or maybe none.”

The Israeli army initially described the attack as a “grave mistake” resulting from the misidentification of the convoy’s occupants. It later said that what soldiers believed was a weapon carried by a person entering one of the vehicles was actually a bag.

An Australian investigation led by former air force chief Mark Binskin found that senior Israeli commanders had refused an earlier request by Mendel and another officer to attack vehicles near the warehouse because of their proximity to the humanitarian convoy.

The inquiry also found that the strikes were approved despite a direction from a divisional commander that no further attacks should take place near humanitarian convoys that night.

Mendel claimed the WCK vehicles had deviated from a route coordinated with the Israeli military. The Australian inquiry, however, found that the decision to attack had already been made before the convoy changed direction, meaning the turn could not have influenced the authorization.

The WCK rejected Mendel’s allegations that the organization had links to Hamas as “false and outrageous,” accusing him of attempting to shift responsibility away from the Israeli army.

The organization renewed its demand for a full and independent investigation into the killing of its personnel.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also demanded that Israel commission an independent investigation, while Frankcom’s family criticized the Israeli military for refusing to provide recordings of communications between the drone operators and commanders.