Australia says Israel’s ground invasion in Gaza will have “devastating” impacts on Palestinian civilians, as the foreign minister reiterated the government’s strong objection to the military offensive.
The Israeli military ordered civilians in parts of Rafah to leave on Monday ahead of a planned ground invasion in an area where more than one million Palestinians had sheltered after evacuating from other parts of Gaza.
Penny Wong said she had reiterated to Israel, Australia’s opposition to the invasion on Wednesday and called for a humanitarian ceasefire to enable hostages to be released and unimpeded aid to flow.
“More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are sheltering in Rafah, from the fighting elsewhere,” she said on Wednesday.
“The impacts on Palestinian civilians from an expanded military operation would be devastating.”
Australia continued to support the work of Qatar, the US and Egypt to broker a deal for a ceasefire, she said.
Senator Wong on Monday said Australia had made it clear Israel “should not go down this path”, expressing the nation’s “grave concern” and called on the Netanyahu government to change course.
The Australian Council for International Development, the peak body for humanitarian agencies, warned of “catastrophic humanitarian consequences” for those trapped in Rafah, including 600,000 children, if Israel proceeded with the invasion.
“Civilians fled to Rafah because Israel said it was a safe zone,” chief executive Marc Purcell said.
“Now, the city risks becoming a zone of death for a starving population with nowhere left to flee.”
He strongly endorsed comments by the foreign minister but wanted the government to act by halting the sale of arms to Israel and placing sanctions on officials responsible for encouraging the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
Amnesty International Australia’s Mohamed Duar said Australia must urgently do everything within its power to prevent further military offensives, death and destruction and secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“No one and nowhere is safe,” Duar said.
Senator Wong held calls on the Mideast crisis with the Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Mustafa and the United Arab Emirates Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed on Tuesday night.
Palestinian statehood was also discussed with the minister acknowledging the issue was being considered by the international community.
Senator Wong met with the UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation and Special Envoy to Australia Reem Al Hashimy, who is in Adelaide.
Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by the federal government, attacked Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
In response, the Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and injured at least 77,000 others, according to the local health ministry.