PM backs Gaza aid resumption after truce breakdown
Australia has called for the resumption of humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza after a second day of Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.
Anthony Albanese February 4, 2025. Photo: Lucas Coch/AAP
Australia has called for the suffering to end in Gaza after Israel resumed ground operations, cutting off aid and power in the besieged enclave.
British foreign secretary David Lammy overnight accused Israel of breaking international law before Downing Street qualified his comments saying it was only “at risk” of doing so.
Israel has stopped aid from entering the Palestinian territory, cut power and resumed airstrikes to force Hamas to come to the negotiating table after the first phase of a ceasefire ended.
Israel believes the listed terrorist group still holds 24 living hostages and dozens more dead.
Repeatedly asked if blocking humanitarian aid was wrong, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not directly comment but said he supported a ceasefire and an end to suffering.
“We want to see humanitarian support be able to be provided and we want to see the hostages released,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
“We want to see people, of course, have access to basic services, including food and water and electricity, that is a basic human need and we don’t want to see innocent people suffering.”
Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma said he’d like to see the ceasefire resume but Hamas couldn’t remain in power, as it was advocating for.
“Hamas have basically said they weren’t planning on returning any more (hostages) – in that situation, the Israeli government does not have a lot of palatable options,” he told ABC TV.
“The application of military pressure as crude as that may sound is about strengthening their negotiating position.”
Senator Sharma also called for humanitarian aid to continue.
Blocking humanitarian aid to civilians is prohibited by the fourth Geneva Convention, breaches of which can constitute a war crime or crime against humanity, according to international law expert Professor Don Rothwell.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war.
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed 1200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
By: Dominic Giannini/AAP with Reuters
