Australian Federal Police are currently investigating allegations of sexual assault by Israeli forces following a raid on the Gaza flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean last month.
The nvestigation has left Hillel Newman, Israeli ambassador in Canberra, seething.
Israel “respect(s)” the Australian Federal Police, but the investigation is a "mistake," Newman told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
At least four activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Monday.
The activists later said they “received an assurance the Australian police would investigate their claims.”
Later, the Australian police said they began inquiries in line with a "victim-centric, trauma-informed approach."
The police would reach out to Israel to "collaborate on the investigation," according to a separate ABC report.
Newman, however, clarified that the police had yet to approach Israel over the probe.
A total of 11 Australian activists were aboard the aid flotilla, which was attacked by Israeli forces last month while sailing towards Gaza.
Wong “definitely believes we were kidnapped, that we were tortured and that we were imprisoned and that some of us were raped. So, that has been established that she believes that,” said one of the activists after meeting the foreign minister.
“The Australian police have committed to taking on an independent investigation.”
Welcoming the probe, the Australian Centre for International Justice called the allegations "extremely serious."
"In the context of an armed conflict, and where the conduct is connected to the enforcement of an unlawful blockade and the obstruction of humanitarian aid, the alleged conduct may amount to war crimes," it said in a statement.
It said the conduct of Israeli forces "must be investigated as potential crimes against humanity, and where relevant, as conduct connected to genocide, including the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza."
Last month, legal representatives, victims and medical personnel from the Global Sumud Flotilla submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging torture, sexual violence and abduction, and accusing Israeli military commanders and senior political leaders of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and acts related to the crime of genocide.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla aims to challenge the systemic impunity of the Israeli regime," it said.
There are already several ICC arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli war on Gaza, among other Israeli officials.
International human rights defenders and activists have made several attempts to break the siege of Gaza since the Israeli military launched its genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.
