WARSAW

Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities are refusing to cooperate with a government investigation into the killing of Polish aid worker Damian Sobol in Gaza last year, a case that has strained ties between Warsaw and Tel Aviv.

Speaking to private broadcaster Radio Zet, Bartoszewski said the inquiry “has not moved forward” due to “a lack of support from the Israeli side.”

“We are not able to determine more than we have now,” he said. “There has been no cooperation from Israel, and the governments of several countries have experienced the same obstacles.”

Sobol was one of seven aid workers killed on April 1, 2024, when Israeli forces struck a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy delivering food in the central Gaza Strip. The others killed included citizens of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States, as well as a Palestinian driver.

The attack prompted widespread condemnation and rare public apologies from Israel. The Israeli military later said the strike was a “grave mistake” resulting from “misidentification” of the convoy and that several officers were dismissed or reprimanded following an internal inquiry.

However, humanitarian groups and several governments said Israel’s internal process did not meet international accountability standards.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Sobol’s hometown of Przemysl, southeastern Poland, opened a criminal investigation in April 2024 to determine whether war crimes or violations of international humanitarian law had occurred.

Bartoszewski said the case remains open but “has reached a point where further progress requires cooperation from Israel and the United States.”

Poland’s Foreign Ministry commissioned an independent international legal panel to review the events, but its findings have not been published. Government officials cited “diplomatic confidentiality” and ongoing discussions with allied governments.

According to Polish media outlet Onet, Warsaw has not yet released its formal position paper on the case.

The United States, where WCK is based, has also conducted a review, but details have not been made public. The then-President Joe Biden described the incident as “outrageous,” while WCK founder Jose Andres said the aid workers were “targeted systematically.”

The case has also complicated relations between the new Civic Coalition government in Warsaw and Israel, amid broader EU calls for greater scrutiny of civilian casualties in Gaza.

No joint Polish-Israeli investigative framework has been established, and prosecutors say their work cannot proceed without access to Israeli evidence and military data.