Latest news with #Gaza
SBS Australia
15 minutes ago
- General
- SBS Australia
'Good opportunity': Opposition says Anthony Albanese should visit Israel
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being pressured to visit Israel as Australia strengthens its language against the Middle Eastern nation for blocking aid into Gaza. Albanese was publicly invited to visit Israel by President Isaac Herzog after he criticised a blockade of food and medical supplies into Gaza. The new Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said Albanese should take up the invitation and travel as soon as possible, when there were no domestic issues like the NSW flood recovery. Australia has joined a growing chorus of nations strengthening rhetoric against Israel as the death toll in Gaza eclipses 54,000, according to the local health authority. More than two million people face starvation with a lack of basic supplies, and the strip largely reduced to rubble following the nearly 20-month-long war. Aid was stopped to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages after a ceasefire broke down earlier this year. Albanese branded Israel's blockade as unacceptable and said its explanation for blocking aid was "completely untenable and without credibility". "Australia and Israel have always had a very strong relationship, which has deteriorated significantly under the Albanese government since Hamas's terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023," Cash told AAP. "This is a good opportunity for the prime minister to reset the relationship." Cash is set to meet Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon in the next week. Federal Labor president and former treasurer Wayne Swan said he was sure Albanese would consider Herzog's invitation. "But you know, the behaviour of Israel at the moment is pretty outrageous when it comes to the blockage of aid into Gaza," he told Nine's Today Show on Friday. "Now, of course, we've got additional settlements going into the West Bank, so the behaviour of the Israeli government is pretty provocative at the moment. "But I'm sure the prime minister will do everything he can constructively to work with all those involved for a swift end to this conflict." Canada, France and the UK have warned of "further concrete action" if Israel doesn't halt its military campaign and lift aid restrictions. A ceasefire deal brokered by the White House and signed off by Israel has renewed hope. The proposal hasn't been fully detailed publicly and has been submitted to Hamas. It comes ahead of a major international summit, which will debate Palestinian statehood in New York in June. Australia hasn't confirmed who it will send as a representative. Israel has criticised any push for Palestinian statehood as rewarding Hamas' terrorism, a point that has been reiterated by some Jewish groups in Australia as well as the Opposition.
ABC News
24 minutes ago
- General
- ABC News
Breakfast Wrap: Why Australia has the highest rate of early onset bowel cancer
Australia now leads the world in bowel cancer rates for people under 50 years of age. But while cases are on the rise, young Australians are finding it difficult to be diagnosed due to their age. On today's Breakfast Wrap podcast episode, we hear from young patients, researchers and the federal government about why Australia might find itself in this position and what can be done. For more information on the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer visit Bowel Cancer Australia Meanwhile, a former Israeli PM joins the program as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to reach desperate new lows. Several Palestinians have been fatally shot or crushed in crowds, as they stormed a United Nations warehouse in a bid to find food. The UN has condemned the situation as 'engineered scarcity' blaming Israel. And then back home, Indigenous communities have endured what some have described as a painful Reconciliation Week. The decision to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas project has frustrated traditional owners in WA, who are worried about the preservation of ancient Indigenous rock art. And then in Alice Springs, a community is being tested once again, following the death in custody of an Aboriginal man with a disability. Hear our interview with former Labor Senator Pat Dodson. Recap the morning's news, politics and global affairs with the Breakfast Wrap
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- General
- The Guardian
If the horrors unfolding in Gaza are not a red line for Australia to take stronger action then I don't know what is
Much has been made this week over Anthony Albanese's strongest comments yet criticising the Netanyahu government's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza. While welcome, his rhetoric calling this an 'outrage', 'unacceptable' and 'untenable' feels inadequate in the face of what looks like a genocide unfolding in full view of the world. These words have not been matched with any new 'concrete action' of the kind being called for by what feels like just about everyone, and foreshadowed by three of Australia's closest allies, the UK, France and Canada. The prime minister hasn't been able to offer a satisfactory explanation as to why Australia wasn't a signatory to this stronger statement of intent, choosing to move away from the mantle of middle power leader we've worn so proudly in times past. The time for stronger global action is now. For too long the international community has failed to follow up words of condemnation with action. Palestinian people have been killed in their tens of thousands, two million teeter on the brink of starvation and the Israeli government continues to build new settlements in the West Bank. The pleas for help are becoming ever more desperate, like that of Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, who broke down while addressing the security council over the deaths of children in Gaza. In the absence of political leadership we've seen people with moral courage step up. Surgeons armed with smartphones, not only saving lives but broadcasting in real time and in unprecedented detail the trauma that this conflict is inflicting on innocent people, especially children. Earlier this week I hosted an event with one of these medical missionaries, Dr Mohammed Mustafa, a British Australian emergency physician of Palestinian heritage who has completed two rotations on the ground in Gaza, most recently in March this year. More than 1,000 Canberrans packed into parliament's Great Hall to hear him speak, but despite the crowd you could have heard a pin drop. Dr Mo talked about the horrific choices medical personnel face trying to save who they can during the mass casualty events that are all too common. He came with a message of hope and compassion. He read a statement from the family of an Israeli hostage, condemned the attacks of October 7 and articulated the simple truth that 'killing women and children is wrong, no matter if it's Palestinian children and women or Israeli'. Dr Mo also lay down the challenge to the Australian government to step up and help fund a deployable children's hospital, and to engage diplomatically with Israel to facilitate its entry to Gaza. Rebuking the prime minister's assertion that Australia wasn't a 'major player' in the Middle East, he said: 'You don't have to be a major player to feed children. You don't have to be a major player to heal children. We need healers in the Middle East, and Australia can be the healer. It can lead the world.' As Dr Mo spoke I was reminded of one of my heroes, Desmond Tutu. He was constantly urging people to recognise our shared humanity and that 'if you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor'. This is indeed a time to focus on our shared humanity. And the fact that Jewish people are not Prime Minister Netanyahu, Gazans are not Hamas. Here in Australia we must come together, not turn our frustrations on our fellow Australians. Dr Mo can serve as an example to us all. After what he's seen, he has every right to rage, but chooses instead to see the pain of everyone affected by these horrors. Dr Mo was one of the first to start what he calls 'Doctor diaries', sending content from inside Nasser hospital at great personal risk in a bid to focus global attention on Gaza. It's something we've seen others continue. Everyone knows we cannot end the war alone, but we do have an important role to play as a middle power that believes in an international rules-based order. In June last year I called on the Albanese government to consider targeted sanctions against members of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces. Almost 12 months and tens of thousands more deaths later, those calls continue to grow, including from within Labor's own ranks. We should have a consistent, values-based approach to how we respond to war and disasters and how we use our humanitarian program. This includes providing an equitable amount of aid and assistance based on need, not politics. Alongside this Australia must stop exporting weapons or parts of weapons that could be used to kill and injure civilians, and start providing emergency visas to the family members of Australians. If the horror unfolding in Gaza is not our country's red line for stronger action then I don't know what is. David Pocock is an independent senator in the ACT
SBS Australia
29 minutes ago
- Health
- SBS Australia
Opposition urges Albanese to take up any invitation to visit Israel
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . The federal opposition's newly-installed Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Michaelia Cash is urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to take up any invitation by the Israeli President to visit the country. Israeli President Isaac Herzog says he'd like Mr Albanese to visit, after Mr Albanese issued stronger criticism of Israel this week for some of its actions in Gaza pertaining to access for humanitarian aid. Ms Cash says Mr Albanese should visit as soon as reasonably possible, in order to try and reset the relationship between Australia and Israel. Ms Cash is due to meet the Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, within the next week. This all comes ahead of a major summit on Palestinian statehood in New York next month, for which Australia has not yet confirmed a representative. Extensive raids have reportedly been conduced by the anti-war crimes agency probing the involvement of ex-Special Air Service soldiers in executions in Afghanistan. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting the raids, which took place in Perth, are considered a major escalation of the Office of the Special Investigator's [[OSI]] almost five-year inquiry into civilian deaths at the hands of Australian soldiers. It's not yet clear if they are connected to the O-S-I's examination of disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says the government has no plans to introduce a sugar tax on certain food and drink to fight obesity. The Public Health Association of Australia has this week called on the government to introduce the tax on high-sugar food and drink, citing support from a survey of 2,800 adults. The Association's President, Caroline Miller, says obesity has overtaken smoking as the number one cause of preventable disease in Australia, and this is a way to combat it, as several other countries have done. She says it's produced successful health results in the United Kingdom, since that country introduced the tax in 2018. Mr Butler has told the Seven Network he agrees that obesity is a serious problem in Australia, but that a sugar tax isn't the way to fight it. "We're focused more on educating shoppers with good front-of-pack labelling about the things they are thinking about buying at the supermarket. There is no plan in our government for a sugar tax. We're instead focusing on education, and also working with food manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar that they put into their products." King Charles and Queen Camilla have shared a message of concern following the New South Wales Hunter and Mid North Coast floods – the worst since 1978 – which left five people dead. In a statement, the Royals said they were sending special prayers, and the deepest possible sympathy to those mourning. They also expressed admiration for the emergency services, volunteer, and disaster recovery agencies who are now charting the long road to recovery. The New South Wales government has passed legislation banning the use of privately arranged and funded electronic monitoring for people on bail. It comes amid concerns about the ability of the justice system to oversee private providers after private monitoring company BailSafe collapsed without notifying the government. The legislation allows for a three-month transition period where existing private electronic monitoring conditions will continue to apply. During this period, a magistrate or judge will be required to decide whether bail concerns can be addressed through other conditions. People will be remanded in custody if they pose what is considered to be an unacceptable risk. An Australian man has been charged with directing live streamed abuse of five children and an adult in the Philippines, where they have been removed from harm. The 68-year-old Darwin man had been arrested on 3 January when Australian Border Force officers allegedly found child abuse material on his phone. Authorities found video calls from the man to facilitators in the Philippines, telling them to live stream the sexual abuse of children as young as six. Australian investigators referred their findings to relevant authorities in the Philippines where two police operations on April 9 and 23 led to the arrest of two suspected female traffickers. Groups alleging abuse from a dissolved Catholic organisation have called on Pope Leo to make public an investigation launched into its practices. The main leaders of Sodalitium Christian Vitae – a lay group that runs schools and spiritual retirement centres in several South American countries – have been accused of committing sexual abuses against children. Those alleging abuse already have a history with Pope Leo, who while acting as priest and bishop in Peru, heard their cases and took them to Pope Francis. Francis then dissolved the organisation in January [[2025]], after a high level Vatican commission to Peru found sadistic sexual and spiritual abuses and financial mismanagement. Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz played a role in exposing the group's wrongdoing. She says Pope Leo making the investigation public would be an important step for healing. IN LANGUAGE (Spanish) TRANSLATED: "This is the request they are doing to this Peruvian Pope (Leo XIV), so that the Catholic church and the state finally take responsibility for so much pain caused for over more than 50 years." A Canadian province has declared a state of emergency due to raging wildfires. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says that 17 wildfires are currently active – with 15 communities so far evacuated. He's also warning of deteriorating weather conditions. "It is a very serious situation that we're faced with in Saskatchewan. We do need some rainfall. We need that sooner rather than later. And in light of that not being in the forecast, we most certainly are putting in place every measure possible to prepare our province, prepare our communities and prepare those that live in our northern communities that are threatened by these wildfires in the days ahead." The neighbouring province to the east, Manitoba, has also declared a state of emergency, and is urging thousands of people in the northern and eastern parts of the province to evacuate. Australian Alex de Minaur has joined calls for the men's tennis tour to be shortened after his elimination in the second round of the French Open. De Minaur has fallen from a two sets to love lead to to lose 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. The number nine seed says, while it is not an excuse for his defeat here, many players are exhausted from the frenetic pace of the tour, and careers will be shortened as a result if something is not done. "Once you start, you don't finish until November 24th, right? So it's just never ending. That's the sheer fact of it. And the solution is you shorten it, because what's going to happen is players' careers are going to get shorter and shorter because they're just going to burn out mentally. There's just too much tennis." Earlier in the week, another of the world's best men's players, Casper Ruud of Norway, likened the men's rankings system to a rat race, saying that it made players obligated to feel like they had to play in events, even if they were injured.
Globe and Mail
35 minutes ago
- General
- Globe and Mail
Trump administration says Israel has accepted its proposal for temporary ceasefire in Gaza
The Trump administration said Thursday that Israel has accepted a new U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel had supported. She said that Hamas has not yet accepted the proposal but talks are continuing. A Hamas official told Reuters that the group 'is studying the amended Witkoff proposal with a high sense of responsibility, stemming from interest to achieve the interests of our people and ensure an end to the aggression.' The ceasefire development comes at an intense time in Gaza where people are desperate to obtain food. UN agencies have been warning that people there are at risk of famine. Last Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that 'Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict.' He said that after a nearly 80-day blockade, Israel had allowed 'finally, a trickle' of aid to cross over. It wasn't enough. The World Food Program said Wednesday that 'hordes of hungry people' broke into its warehouse in central Gaza searching for food. The agency said that according to initial reports, two people died and several were injured. However, the Associated Press, citing hospital staff, reported that four people were killed. 'Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,' the WFP said in a statement. It added that it has warned of 'alarming and deteriorating conditions' in Gaza and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people who are desperate for help. The agency called for food assistance to be scaled up, saying it's the only way to reassure people 'that they will not starve.' Last week, Israel ended its blockade on humanitarian goods and allowed trucks carrying life-saving aid to enter the enclave. This week, a new controversial U.S.-backed private company called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has the support of Israel, set up aid distribution sites in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas steals aid, something aid groups have denied. International aid organizations have condemned the new system of distributing aid in Gaza, accusing the state of politicizing the process. Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN's aid co-ordination office, has said that Israel is trying to bypass its system run by 15 UN aid organizations and 200 NGOs and partners. He warned before the new aid distribution system was launched that it appeared to be 'a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid.' He said aid should be provided based on need. Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN aid co-ordination office for the Palestinian territories, said Wednesday that in Gaza 'people are being starved and then drip-fed in the most undignified way possible.' He said the new distribution scheme was 'engineered scarcity: four distribution hubs located in central and southern Gaza, secured by private U.S. security contractors, where those Palestinians who can reach them will receive rations.' Humanitarian aid organizations held a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday criticizing the new aid distribution method, saying it politicizes an already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Oxfam Canada's director of international programs, Erin Kiley, said the new mechanism gives Israel power over who receives aid, where and from whom, turning relief into a tool of coercion. 'These actions undermine international humanitarian law and set a precedent for occupying powers to dictate the terms of aid based on political agendas and military goals,' she said. The UN said this week its human-rights office received information that at least 47 people were injured Tuesday while trying to obtain aid. A spokesperson for GHF said the report of injuries is 'completely false' and that GHF 'has had no major injuries or deaths since we started operations on Tuesday.' GHF said that 'misinformation' is circulating online and sought to clarify that no shots have been fired at Palestinian crowds at their distribution sites, nor have there been casualties. The company said in a statement that it continued its operations Thursday at three distribution sites and that they have plans to build more across Gaza, including in the north. Danny Glenwright, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children Canada, said that none of the chaos unfolding in Gaza is necessary. 'This is a crisis that Israel has created because it is bypassing systems that have been in place that work for us, that have worked for us in every conflict setting, in every humanitarian setting in which we've worked for many, many decades,' he said. Mr. Glenwright said that humanitarian principles exist to ensure that those who need aid the most are able to get it, and aid must be delivered independently. Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said Israel is trying to alleviate the political pressure it is facing from global allies. 'They want to relieve political pressure, but they don't necessarily want to address the underlying humanitarian crisis,' he said. He said pressure from the international community needs to continue, and Israel needs to allow experienced humanitarian organizations long established in Gaza to resume their work at scale. 'This is not going to work,' he said of the new aid distribution model. 'This is not how you do famine relief. Famine relief is not about making people walk very, very long distances carrying very heavy boxes of food.' With reports from Abyssinia Abebe and Reuters
