The Australian government must hold Israel accountable for using starvation as a “weapon of war” and block trade serving the country’s military, a local collective says.
Four Australian faith, humanitarian and health groups united on Monday to call on the government to sanction Israeli officials who have advocated denying aid to Gaza, along with military and civil servants stopping civilians from getting food and other essentials.
The groups – the Australian Council for International Development, Australian Global Health Alliance, National Council of Churches in Australia and Australian National Imams Council – demanded the federal government end trade for military purposes between Australian and Israeli companies.
They also called for the federal government to use all diplomatic measures to achieve a permanent ceasefire.
Australian Council for International Development chief executive Marc Purcell said the world was witnessing a man-made, preventable famine in Gaza and “it will have a permanent stain on all our collective humanity”.
He pointed to high-ranking Israeli officials as publicly expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel.
“As the world watched in horror and condemned unequivocally the militant attacks on Israel on October 7, so now do we unequivocally condemn the use of starvation of the Palestinian people as a weapon of war against them,” Mr Purcell said.
“The deliberate prevention of aid convoys, including the United Nations, from reaching people in the north of Gaza, is a complete and total violation of international humanitarian law which must be condemned with tangible punishment attached.”
Australian Global Health Alliance executive director Selina Namchee Lo stressed starvation was the most extreme form of malnutrition and could cause horrific and slow deaths while people’s organs shut down.
There was a “vicious cycle” between malnutrition and illness whereby people who were malnourished became more susceptible to infections including diarrhoeal diseases, she said.
“In the same way, someone who is already sick due to an infection such as diarrhoea is more susceptible to malnutrition,” Dr Lo said.
“This makes it ever more challenging to ingest life-saving nutrients or medication.
“If these infections don’t kill them, eventually the prolonged deprivation of nutrition and energy sources will.”
National Council of Churches in Australia president Rev John Gilmore said there was no excusing the starvation in Gaza, nor the recent deaths of seven aid workers including Australian Zomi Frankcom.
Their deaths were among almost 200 other aid workers’, Australian National Imams Council president Shadi Alsuleiman said.
The purposeful blocking of food and basic necessities was widespread and systemic, he said.
“When a government starves a people, all are dehumanised in the process,” Imam Alsuleiman said.
Intergenerational conflicts in the Middle East region involving Palestinians and Israelis escalated on October 7 when Islamist militants linked to Hamas attacked southern Israel from Gaza.
More than 1200 people died and up to another 200 were taken hostage, according to the United Nations.
Israel’s subsequent military action has resulted in the deaths of more than 32,000 people in Gaza, with the UN citing unconfirmed data provided by the local ministry of health and Gaza government media office.
More than two million people in Gaza are almost completely reliant on aid shipments almost six months into Israel’s devastating siege and invasion of the territory triggered by Hamas’ cross-border attack.
with Reuters