Albanese under pressure to recognise Palestinian statehood
The Prime Minister on Friday issued his most firm statement yet on the conflict in the Palestinian enclave, amid growing international concerns of a starvation crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Albanese called on Israel to "comply immediately with its obligations under international law" as Gaza is "in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe".
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News.com.au
7 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Gaza civil defence says 30 killed in food queue by Israeli fire
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people when they opened fire Wednesday on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in the north of the Palestinian territory. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel's offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis. The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel's "tactical pauses", people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "at least 30 martyrs were killed" as they waited for aid north of Gaza City, and 300 wounded. Bassal said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd waiting for food. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza. Hours earlier, 14 Palestinians were killed in four other incidents, three near aid distribution sites, the civil defence agency said. In two of the incidents, the Israeli army said it fired warning shots at people approaching the aid sites. - Pauses not enough - While the military did not comment on the incident at Zikim, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did say that Hamas militants were "stealing" food from the latest deliveries. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. Gaza has been in the grip of war for almost 22 months and, according to a UN-mandated report, its two-million-plus inhabitants now face an unfolding famine. The war was triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 60,138 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run government's health ministry. - Food aid air-drops - Amid an international outcry over Gaza's food crisis, Israel has observed a daytime pause in military operations since the weekend on secure routes and in built-up areas to boost aid delivery and distribution. Air drops of food have also been staged by the Jordanian air force, the United Arab Emirates and Britain. France said it plans to start delivering 40 tonnes of aid from Friday. OCHA said that the conditions for delivering aid were "far from sufficient" to meet the immense needs of its "desperate, hungry people". Israel's pauses alone "do not allow for the continuous flow of supplies required to meet immense needs levels in Gaza", OCHA said in an update. "For example, for UN drivers to access the Kerem Shalom crossing -- a fenced-off area -- Israeli authorities must approve the mission, provide a safe route through which to travel, provide multiple 'green lights' on movement, as well as a pause in bombing, and, ultimately, open the iron gates to allow them to enter." "Desperate, hungry people" offload the small amounts of aid from the trucks that are able to exit the crossings, it added. - Ceasefire talks halted - Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff was to visit Israel on Thursday. Witkoff has been involved in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal. But the discussions broke down last week when Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Doha. Netanyahu announced the following day that Israel and the United States were "considering alternative options to bring our hostages home". Witkoff "will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza", a US official told AFP. Arab countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt called this week on Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war.
West Australian
37 minutes ago
- West Australian
UK rejects rewarding Hamas after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would recognise Palestinian state
Britain rejects Israeli criticism that it is rewarding militant group Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's ultimatum, setting a September deadline, prompted an immediate rebuke from Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of the fighters' 2023 attack that triggered the war. US President Donald Trump also said he did not think Hamas 'should be rewarded' with recognition of Palestinian independence. But British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander - designated by the government to respond to media questions on Wednesday - said: 'This is not a reward for Hamas. 'Hamas is a vile terrorist organisation that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It's about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death. 'We've got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza.' Mr Starmer's decision follows that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced last week that Paris would recognise Palestinian statehood in September, becoming the first major Western power to do so, because of the dire humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Previously, Britain and France, like other Western powers, had been committed to Palestinian independence, but as a goal that would best be achieved only at the conclusion of negotiations with Israel. In a televised address on Tuesday, Mr Starmer said it had become necessary to act because the prospect of such a two-state solution was under threat. Britain would make the move at the UN General Assembly in September unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid into Gaza, made clear it would not annex the West Bank and committed itself to a long-term peace process that delivered a two-state solution, Mr Starmer said. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Britain's biggest Jewish advocacy group, raised concerns that similarly clear conditions had not been set out for Hamas, which is still holding 50 hostages it seized in its October 2023 attack. The Muslim Council of Britain, the country's largest Muslim umbrella organisation, said making recognition conditional contradicted the government's stated position that statehood was the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
What does it mean to recognise Palestinian statehood?
With the UK looking towards recognition of a Palestinian state and pressure on Anthony Albanese to do the same, a former British Consul to Jerusalem and trustee of the Britain Palestine Project explains what recognising a Palestinian state would mean.
