Gaza situation beyond ‘worst fears,' Australia says amid mass starvation
'The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears. The position of the Australian Government is clear: every innocent life matters,' Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. 'Every Israeli. Every Palestinian. This conflict has stolen far too many innocent lives.'
'Tens of thousands of civilians are dead, children are starving,' he continued. 'Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.'
Albanese added, 'We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law. This includes allowing the United Nations and NGOs to carry out their lifesaving work safely and without hindrance.'
After a temporary ceasefire ended between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israeli officials blocked the delivery of aid to the Gaza from March to May. Since then, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by Israel, has distributed aid to some areas of the strip overseen by the Jewish State.
The organization, also backed by the U.S. government, has distributed over 90 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza since May, according to the State Department. Still, the food pickup sites are dangerous, as hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, with the Israeli military at times firing live ammunition for crowd control.
The Israeli military has argued that the aid distribution system is set up to bar Hamas from stealing food and the country's officials have pinned the blame of Palestinian suffering on Hamas.
Israel was also criticized by Canada and the United Kingdom, with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney arguing that Israel's control of aid distribution 'must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations.'
'Many of these are holding significant Canadian-funded aid which has been blocked from delivery to starving civilians. This denial of humanitarian aid is a violation of international law,' Carney said Thursday in a statement.
The statements come as France's President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France will soon recognize Palestinian statehood, becoming the first Group of Seven (G7) nation to do so.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, a U.S.-government-designated terrorist group, fell apart as President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the administration is looking at alternative options to free the hostages from Hamas.
'It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way,' Witkoff said Thursday. 'We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.'
The conflict ignited after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 Israelis and taking roughly 250 hostages. Since then, the Israeli military has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The tally does distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Yemen's Houthis threaten to target ships linked to firms dealing with Israeli ports
(Reuters) -Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they would target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities, as part of what they called the fourth phase of their military operations against Israel. In a televised statement, the Houthis' military spokesperson warned that ships would be attacked if companies ignored their warnings, regardless of their destination. "The Yemeni Armed Forces call on all countries, if they want to avoid this escalation, to pressure the enemy to halt its aggression and lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip," he added. Since Israel's war in Gaza began in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have been attacking ships they deem as bound or linked to Israel in what they say are acts of solidarity with Palestinians. In May, the U.S. announced a surprise deal with the Houthis where it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks, though the Houthis said the deal did not include sparing Israel. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Obama calls for action to stop ‘preventable starvation' in Gaza
Former President Obama on Sunday called for action to stop what he described as the 'preventable' starvation reported in the Gaza Strip. 'While a lasting resolution to the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all hostages and a cessation of Israel's military operations, these articles underscore the immediate need for action to be taken to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation,' Obama wrote in a post on the social platform X, linking to two New York Times articles. 'Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,' he added in a subsequent post. Israel's military said earlier Sunday that it would start a 'tactical pause' in fighting in Gaza amid mass starvation concerns. President Trump on Sunday told reporters that Hamas is stealing food meant for people in Gaza, when asked for his response to the images of starving children in the Palestinian territory governed by the militant group. 'When I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks people are stealing the food, they're stealing the money, they're stealing the money for the food. They're stealing weapons, they're stealing everything,' the president said. He added, 'It's a mess, that whole place is a mess. The Gaza Strip, you know it was given many years ago so they could have peace. That didn't work out too well.' The Israeli military has reported that there is no proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against international criticism on Sunday, saying Israel has allowed limited humanitarian aid into the strip, as long as the aid doesn't enhance Hamas's military capabilities or harm hostages. Netanyahu said Israel must continue to do so, The Jerusalem Post reported. 'We've done this so far,' Netanyahu said, according to the Israeli newspaper. 'But the UN is spreading lies and falsehoods about Israel. They say we don't allow humanitarian supplies in, yet we do. There are secure corridors. They've always existed, but now it's official. No more excuses.'
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Good riddance to UNESCO — a hate-America shouting gallery
President Donald Trump is pulling America out of UNESCO for the third time. Maybe this time it'll be for good. Once lauded for its work in preserving important cultural sites, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations became a platform for miseducation by every tinpot tyrant trying to score points by defaming America and its allies. It also adopted a full-on woke agenda, backing divisive DEI and social-justice causes that, as a Team Trump aide explained, conflicted with American values. Advertisement 'Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,' the State Department declared. The agency's focus on the UN's 'Sustainable Development Goals,' for example, follows the Paris Climate Accords program of deindustrializing the developed world, while paying the Third World to help it catch up. It admitted the 'State of Palestine' as a full member, though the United States does not recognize such a state, believing the Palestinian issue should be decided by Israel and Palestinian Arabs, not the striped-pants brigade from third-party nations. Advertisement UNESCO has also politicized Jewish holy sites, calling Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem a 'mosque,' which it never was. And it's been China's running dog, promoting Beijing's domination of Tibetan and Uyghur culture — arguably genocidal — as perfectly fine. UNESCO's odious record goes back decades. Washington first withdrew from the group in 1984, under Ronald Reagan, when it sought to have US media companies submit to the control of a 'New World Information Order.' Advertisement Trump's withdrawal from UNESCO follows his exit from the UN's equally vile Human Rights Council, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's sanctioning of its 'special rapporteur' on Palestinian issues, Francesca Albanese, who was obsessed with falsely depicting Israel as a perpetrator of genocide. Those moves were well deserved. Call it a Turtle Bay trifecta.
