Countries that lost citizens in aid convoy attack reject Israel Defense Forces report

Alone among the countries that lost citizens in the Israeli drone strike on an aid convoy on April 1, Canada has yet to indicate whether it considers the matter closed following an Israeli investigation that declared it to be a «grave mistake.»

Jacob Flickinger, a Canadian Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, was killed along with all six other members of the World Central Kitchen relief team when their three vehicles were pursued along a Gaza seafront road and struck in succession by an Israeli drone or drones.

The day after the attack, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly used her account on X (formerly Twitter) to call for «a full investigation.»

"(Canada) expects full accountability for these killings & we will convey this to the Israeli government directly," she wrote.

Two days later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to reject the explanation offered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the drone strike a «tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip» and added that «this happens in wartime.»

«No, it doesn't just happen,» Trudeau said three days after the attack. «We need a fully open, transparent, independent and rapid investigation into what happened.»

That investigation, he said, must lead to «full accountability.»

The White House turns the screws

Israel also heard from U.S. President Joe Biden.

Although he was born, lived and served in Canada, Flickinger was also American through his father. World Central Kitchen is a Washington-based charity founded and directed by Jose Andres, a personal friend of Biden who serves as co-chair of the president's Council on Food, Fitness and Nutrition.

The killings led to a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu in which the