
‘This just cannot continue': PM stands firm on recognising Palestinian Statehood
Published 12 August 2025, 9:23 am
Australia's Prime Minister says Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu is 'in denial' over the crisis in Gaza. Israeli officials say Western moves to recognise Palestinian statehood will change little while Hamas is considered a threat. This story contains distressing images as Palestinians in Gaza report the heaviest Israeli bombardment in weeks, with IDF tanks and planes pounding areas of northern Gaza City.
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Perth Now
13 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Hamas at talks, while Israel says Gazans free to exit
Militant group Hamas's chief negotiator has held talks with Egyptian mediators over a potential ceasefire in the Gaza war while Israel struck the territory's main city before a planned takeover and again invited Palestinians to leave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated an idea - also enthusiastically floated by US President Donald Trump - that Palestinians should simply leave the enclave housing more than two million people after nearly two years of conflict. "They're not being pushed out, they'll be allowed to exit," he told Israeli television channel i24NEWS on Wednesday. "All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us." Arabs and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during a 1948 war. Israel's planned re-seizure of Gaza City - which it took in the early days of the war before withdrawing - is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible though talks have been floundering and conflict still rages. Israeli planes and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City heavily, residents said, with many homes destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaia neighbourhoods overnight. Al-Ahli hospital said 12 people were killed in an air strike on a home in Zeitoun. Tanks also destroyed several houses in the east of Khan Younis in south Gaza, while in the centre Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics said. Israel's military did not comment. Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya's meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday were to focus on stopping the war, delivering aid and "ending the suffering of our people in Gaza", Hamas official Taher al-Nono said in a statement. Egyptian security sources said the talks would also discuss the possibility of a comprehensive ceasefire that would see Hamas relinquish governance in Gaza and concede its weapons. Hamas was open to all ideas if Israel pulled out, a group official told Reuters; however, "laying down arms before the occupation is dismissed is impossible", said the official, who asked not to be named. Netanyahu's plan to expand military control over Gaza, which Israeli sources said could be launched in October, has heightened global outcry over the widespread devastation, displacement and hunger in the enclave. Foreign ministers of 24 countries, including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said this week the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached "unimaginable levels" and urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid. Israel denies responsibility for hunger, accusing Hamas of stealing aid. It says it has taken steps to increase deliveries, including daily combat pauses in some areas and protected routes for aid convoys. The Israeli military on Wednesday said that nearly 320 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and that a further nearly 320 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organisations in the past 24 hours along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid. The United Nations and Palestinians say aid entering Gaza remains far from sufficient. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

Sky News AU
13 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Hamas claims vindication of October 7 attacks due to Albanese recognising Palestine
Sky News host Steve Price discusses reports indicating Hamas claims vindication over the shock October 7 attacks as the Albanese government recognises Palestine. 'As Prime Minister Albanese toured Brisbane today … on the other side of the world Sheikh Hassan Yousef, figuratively lobbed a hand grenade in the prime minister's very own backyard,' Mr Price said. 'The Sheikh, a 70-year-old Hamas veteran, described as an extremist, is there any other kind of Hamas leader, issued a statement that has stunned, not just critics of our pointless politically motivated recognition of Palestine, but I am sure it will unsettle many in Labor from the right rather than the Palestinian-supporting left.'

Sydney Morning Herald
43 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hamas welcomes Albanese government's decision to recognise Palestinian state
Terrorist group Hamas has welcomed the federal government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state, claiming it vindicates the October 7 attacks. Loading