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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland has summoned Israel’s ambassador to express its “great disappointment” that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have discontinued an investigation into the strikes on an aid convoy in Gaza in 2024 that killed seven humanitarian workers, including a Pole, Damian Soból.
“Partnership requires mutual respect,” declared foreign minister Radosław Sikorski. “The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, as well as the failure of accountability for [the] IDF’s excessive use of force[,] are undermining public support in even pro-Israel nations.”
Partnership requires mutual respect. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, as well as the failure of accountability for IDF’s excessive use of force are undermining public support in even pro-Israel nations. https://t.co/9H0nhiDE4H
— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) August 20, 2026
The incident in question took place in April 2024, when Israeli drones struck a convoy delivering humanitarian aid from World Central Kitchen (WCK), a major international food relief NGO. The attack killed seven aid workers, including Soból.
The incident caused outrage in Poland, whose government demanded that Israel fully explain the circumstances. The IDF expressed “sincere sorrow” over the deaths and pledged to carry out a “thorough and transparent” investigation.
On Wednesday this week, the IDF announced that it had closed the case after determining “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation or the taking of additional measures against any of those involved in the incident”.
The IDF said that its troops had identified a gunman on one of the trucks in the convoy. It also claimed that WCK had hired an armed security force to protect the convoy without coordinating that with IDF authorities and that the convoy deviated from the route previously agreed with the IDF.
However, the IDF also acknowledged that it had mistakenly identified several individuals as being armed. It added that attempts to contact WCK representatives over a half-hour period while the convoy was on the move were unsuccessful.
The IDF noted that, after the incident, two military officers were removed from their positions while three others were reprimanded. But it found that there was no basis for any further action.
⚖️ IDF prosecution rules on five FFAM cases:
The IDF says its General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism has completed reviews of approximately 150 exceptional wartime incidents since the beginning of the war and transferred them to the Military Prosecution. Decisions… pic.twitter.com/H5g4qOu5e2
— Israel Realtime (@IsraelRealtime) August 19, 2026
On Thursday, Poland’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying that it was “greatly disappointed to receive the information provided about the discontinuation of the proceedings by the Israeli military authorities”.
It announced that it had summoned the Israeli ambassador in order to “communicate a critical assessment of the actions taken to date to clarify the causes and course of the tragedy”.
It also noted that Polish prosecutors are still conducting their own investigation and that the foreign ministry had informed the Israeli ambassador that they “expect the Israeli side will provide the relevant Polish authorities with all necessary explanations and materials requested”.
“The circumstances of the tragedy should be fully investigated and [we] do not accept that the perpetrators are avoiding legal and moral responsibility,” concluded the ministry, adding that “the families deserve adequate compensation”.
We strongly condemn the Israeli military prosecutor’s account of the deaths of our seven colleagues on April 1, 2024. And we fundamentally disagree with their decision about criminal investigations into the IDF airstrikes that killed our team.
Read our full statement here:…— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) August 19, 2026
The IDF’s findings were also condemned by WCK itself, which called them “inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive”. It added that, “at the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody”.
The NGO repeated its demand for an independent investigation into the incident, “because the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct”.
On Friday, the UK, Canada and Australia, whose citizens were also killed in the strike, issued a joint statement calling the IDF’s decision to drop the investigation “shameful” and another example of the lack of accountability for incidents in Gaza.
Joint statement from the foreign ministries of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom on Israel closing the investigation into strikes on the World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza on 1 April 2024 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/V3CZe286tN
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) August 21, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: World Central Kitchen
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
