☕️ The miscommunication over hiker's death

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Police have found the body of missing teen hiker Lily Hooper in the Southern Highlands in NSW.

The 18-year-old was first reported missing on Wednesday 12 August after she didn’t return home from a day hike.

Lily, an experienced hiker, left her home in Oakdale in Sydney’s south-west about 8am on Wednesday 12 August to hike in Nattai National Park. She drove to Bonnum Pic walking trail that day, where she began hiking. When she hadn't returned home by 10pm, Lily was reported missing, and police began searching immediately.

Over the past week, specialist police crews and 200 emergency services personnel worked through dense bush to find Lily.

In a statement on Thursday, NSW Police said: “The body of a woman has been located in bushland following the search for a missing bushwalker in the Southern Highlands today.”

NSW Police also confirmed that searchers had initially – and incorrectly – communicated that Lily was alive. This initial information was shared with Lily’s parents at the time, but was corrected within 10 minutes. This miscommunication had also led to NSW Premier Chris Minns stating in Parliament that she was alive, which he later apologised for.

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has chosen not to criminally investigate soldiers who killed aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, two years ago.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says “Australia is outraged” at the decision. She also criticised Israel for making the announcement on World Humanitarian Day, which celebrates aid workers.

Wong held a meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman today as a result.

The IDF said its investigation found “serious failures” but “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct”.

Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom worked for aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza. She was from Sydney and had worked for WCK since 2018.

WCK provides meals to communities affected by conflict and natural disasters.

In April 2024, IDF soldiers killed Frankcom, then 43 years old, and six of her colleagues after they delivered food in Gaza.

WCK says IDF soldiers fired on its convoy of vehicles, despite knowing “that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody.”

It says the IDF could clearly see the vehicles were marked as being for humanitarian purposes, and knew to expect the WCK convoy.

At the time, the IDF released a statement saying: “The strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification.” It launched an investigation.

The Australian Government asked Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin to advise on the “sufficiency” of Israel’s investigation.

Binskin released his findings in August 2024, having spoken to WCK and the IDF, as well as other parties. He found WCK had “closely coordinated” with the Israeli defence ministry in the days leading up to the delivery, and that its staff wore “body armour and helmets while travelling”.

Binskin said WCK had hired local security guards, one of whom “fired his weapon into the air” as the convoy approached a warehouse to drop off food and aid. According to the evidence Binskin heard, this led IDF soldiers watching via drone to believe Hamas, a terrorist organisation, had hijacked the convoy.

Once the convoy was at the warehouse, one soldier believed they saw a person put a gun in the driver’s seat of one of the WCK vehicles.
Binskin said the convoy split up on their way back, with the security going north and WCK going west.

While they drove west, the IDF struck the WCK cars, killing seven people, including Frankcom.

This week, the IDF released a statement on the outcome of several of its internal investigations.

On the strike on the WCK convoy, the IDF said soldiers had “identified a gunman on a truck in the humanitarian aid convoy.” It also said soldiers believed that cars around the aid trucks “corresponded to a scenario” where Hamas had taken control.

Ultimately, it said soldiers “mistakenly believed that the vehicles contained Hamas military operatives and therefore struck the vehicles.”

The IDF said while it believed there were “serious failures in the process” that led to soldiers firing on the convoy, it “did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.” It said it will therefore not open a criminal investigation in this case.

The IDF’s statement did include an announcement of a criminal investigation into the killing of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab.

IDF soldiers fired on the car carrying Rajab and her family near Gaza City in January 2024, killing five people instantly. Rajab and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh survived the attack and called an ambulance for help. Further Israeli shooting killed Layan.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society worked for hours to try to reach Rajab. The IDF fired on an ambulance heading towards her, killing the paramedics inside.

With no help able to reach her, Rajab died from her injuries. These events are depicted in the Oscar-nominated film ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ (2025).

In a statement on Thursday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia “is outraged the Israeli Government has decided not to pursue criminal proceedings” against the soldiers responsible for killing Frankcom.

Wong said the decision came despite “admissions that the IDF strikes on Zomi and her colleagues’ vehicles were the result of serious failures to follow IDF procedures, mistaken identification and errors in decision-making.”

Wong met with Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, to explain his country’s decisions. Speaking to media after the meeting, Newman said it was not intentional to release the investigation on World Humanitarian Day.

He added: “We express deep sorrow and grief with the family of Zomi Frankcom... we grieve with you [and] we are very sorry for the circumstances that brought about this death.”

Newman said: “One cannot attack findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda.”

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A new vaccine could reduce the spread and recurrence of melanoma, one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australia. The pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck say their mRNA vaccine fights tumours by targeting specific cells, and in combination with immunotherapy can reduce the risk of death. Professor Georgina Long, a melanoma expert who was co-Australian of the Year in 2024 with Richard Scolyer, said it “has the potential to establish a new treatment paradigm… helping patients remain cancer-free for longer.”

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.