Britain, Canada and Australia have condemned Israel's decision not to open a criminal investigation into the 2024 strike on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, in which seven humanitarian workers were killed.

Among the dead were three British citizens, one Pole, one Australian, one Canadian and one person with dual American-Canadian citizenship. In other words - people carrying the passports of the countries now demanding an answer.

What Israel actually said

The Israeli military stated that commanders did not know about an armed guard in the convoy and had identified him as a Hamas member. "Serious failures" in the procedure leading to the deaths were acknowledged. But the conclusion is this: the commanders' decisions "do not raise reasonable suspicion of a criminal offence".

Israel's ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, was more direct: there was no criminal intent, and therefore no criminal liability.

The wording deserves a second reading. The failures are serious, seven people are dead, but nobody is criminally liable. That is a construction we know from this region too - the blame exists as a concept, but it has no owner.

The date is part of the story too

In their joint statement, the three countries stressed that the decision is particularly difficult because it was announced on World Humanitarian Day. "The victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf," reads the statement from the three foreign ministries.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her country was "appalled" by the decision and pointed out that questions remain unanswered about why several strikes occurred within minutes of each other. That is the key question - one strike can be a mistake, but several strikes minutes apart demand an explanation that has not been given.

The organisation's founder, Jose Andres, called the decision "wrong" and "painful for all of us" and asked for an independent investigation.

Three allied states publicly demand accountability from Israel for the deaths of their own citizens and receive a conclusion that there is no criminal liability. If that much pressure produces that much result, it is worth asking what remains for the families of the tens of thousands of dead who do not have three Western foreign ministries behind them.