Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has said that innocent civilians should not pay for the horrors perpetrated by Hamas as Israel exercises its right to defend itself.
“We have seen a devastating loss of innocent life. There are ongoing civilian deaths… you’ve seen the international response. The reality is the international community won’t accept ongoing civilian deaths,” Wong said, speaking to ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday.
Overnight, 23 Australian citizens, residents and family members escaped Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. Wong says a further 20 remain in the city.
“We are supporting those families and Australian citizens who did get out overnight.”
“We’ve been working towards this for a very long time,” she says, noting they still have more work to do getting the remaining Australians safely out of Gaza.
In total, Senator Wong says the Australian government was assisting 88 people to cross the Rafah border from Gaza into Egypt.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp
The United Nations Human Rights Office has expressed concernt that the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp could amount to war crimes.
On the platform X (formerly Twitter), the organisation wrote: “Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”
When pressed by the ABC on whether she would condemn Israeli air strikes on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, Senator Wong reiterated Australia’s position is to urge Israel to protect civilian lives and observe international law, saying it’s “really critical that Israel listens”.
“Even in war there are rules. Our parliament and our government continue to say that Israel must observe International law and the rules of war,” she said.
“Innocent civilians should not pay for the horrors perpetrated by Hamas. That is why we have international law and international principles of engagement in conflict. We would continue to publicly assert that Israel should abide by these.”
Women in Gaza are paying a high price
As Australia and the international community continue to respond to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, UN Women released data this week showing that gendered impacts of war cannot be overlooked.
Close to 493,000 women and girls have been displaced from their homes in Gaza. Around 668,000 women and girls are in need of protection from gender-based violence.
And a surge of widows has emerged from the violence as 1,487 men have been killed. This has produced close to 900 new households headed by women and 3,103 children who’ve lost their fathers.
Organisations and government bodies around the world continue the call for ceasefire, the release of hostages and humanitarian access.