AN AUSTRALIAN report blamed Israel today for the deaths of seven aid workers in drone strikes on three World Central Kitchen vehicles on April 1.

Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East continued to rise following the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur earlier this week.

Australia initiated the investigation after its citizen Zomi Frankcom, three of her aid worker colleagues and three British personal security staff died in the attack.

Former Australian Defence Force chief Mark Binskin was appointed the government’s special adviser on the matter and visited Israel in May. He also engaged with World Central Kitchen and Solace Global, the company that provided the convoy’s security team.

Mr Binskin blamed the fatal strikes on “serious failures to follow IDF procedures, mistaken identification and errors in decision-making,” a statement said today.

The armed security guards were probably mistaken for Hamas operatives, Mr Binskin said, adding that this was the primary factor behind a “significant breakdown in situational awareness.”

He found that the strikes had not been deliberately directed against World Central Kitchen.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had told Israel that the families deserved an apology.

“Gaza remains the deadliest place on Earth to be an aid worker. This was not a one-off incident,” she said.

“The United Nations reports that more than 250 aid workers have been killed since the start of this conflict and, in recent weeks, a number of UN vehicles have come under attack. This is not acceptable.”

On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that the Lebanese Shi’ite group’s conflict with Israel had entered a “new phase.”

Speaking via video link to a mourners at the funeral of Mr Shukur,  who was killed by an Israeli air strike in Beirut, Mr Nasrallah said: "We have entered a new phase that is different from the previous period.

“We have the courage to take responsibility for where we strike, even if it’s a mistake. If we made a mistake, we would admit and apologise,” he told the crowd gathered with Mr Shukur's coffin at an auditorium in a Beirut suburb, adding: “The enemy made itself the judge, jury and executioner without any evidence.”

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over the coffin of Mr Haniyeh, who was killed in a presumed Israeli assassination, in a ceremony at Tehran University.