Israel opens Gaza humanitarian corridors
The IDF has been under growing international pressure to greater distribute aid.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned Israel over the deaths of Palestinians seeking aid.
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Canberra Times
28 minutes ago
- Canberra Times
Aid lorries enter Gaza as Israel takes 'tactical pause'
UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the announcement by the Israeli military. "In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he wrote on X.
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Albanese government pushes forward with prescription medicine cap at $25
Medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will be capped at $25 per prescription from the start of 2026, down from the current $31.60, with the Albanese government to introduce laws confirming the changes this week. The major federal election promise will also see the price of PBS scripts frozen at its current level of $7.70 for pensioners until 2030. The changes will cost taxpayers $200 million per year, but are likely to be popular with voters. The Coalition matched the policy during the election and is likely to see the bill pass through parliament relatively quickly. However, Labor used the policy during the federal campaign in April and May to run a scare campaign accusing Peter Dutton and the Opposition of being 'Trump-Lite' and wanting a US style health system. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, says: 'The size of your bank balance shouldn't determine the quality of your healthcare'. 'We said we would make cheaper medicines even cheaper - that is exactly what we are doing,' Albanese said. 'This is another example of cost of living relief that helps every Australian. The Health Minister, Mark Butler, says the last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was 2004 – more than 20 years ago. 'The Albanese Government has been focused on delivering cheaper medicines for Australians,' Butler said. 'Cheaper medicines are good for the hip pocket and good for your health.' The Albanese Government has started the first two sitting weeks of its second term trying to keep the focus on its election promises. Last week it introduced bills to cut HECS debt by 20 percent, entrench penalty rates in workplace agreements, and safety reforms for the childcare sector.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The moral test for Labor has shifted on Gaza: Words are not enough
Just two months ago, the UN warned: 'Every single one of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine. One in five faces starvation.' And we know many have been shot by Israeli soldiers while trying to get food. On the weekend, Israel announced it would take steps to restore aid. Sadly, by this stage it is difficult to know with what level of credulity to treat its government's assertions. Israel has long blamed Hamas for looting aid; on Sunday, The New York Times carried a report based on conversations with Israeli military officials: 'the Israeli military never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations … In fact, the Israeli military officials said, the UN aid delivery system, which Israel derided and undermined, was largely effective in providing food to Gaza's desperate and hungry population.' This backed reports of a recent American analysis with similar findings. The starvation of the people of Gaza, then, is not an accident; it is not a tragic byproduct of other actions. As de Waal wrote years ago, 'starve' should not be seen as a passive verb. It is something someone does to someone else. And, it follows, something that others permit to be done. Almost a year ago, one Israeli minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said: 'No one will allow us to starve 2 million people, even though that might be just and moral until they return the hostages.' He was wrong. Loading Wong's early call for restraint in Gaza tells us several things. It shows it was possible, at the very beginning, to glimpse some of what was coming. At the same time, Wong's early defensiveness shows how easily participants in public debate – including leading politicians – are able to be knocked off course by efforts to make certain statements unsayable. The conservative press is significant in these efforts; but the rest of the political class, politicians and media, are the ones who allow themselves to be cowed. Israel has achieved as much as it ever will from this war. In the doing, thousands more Palestinians have been killed. Together, these two facts mean that more things are now able to be said. But the moral and practical test for those with influence has shifted. Loading Of course, it's true that Australia can't by itself end the fighting. And it is hard to know what will make Netanyahu listen – or make America behave differently. And it is true, too, that statements can have some effect. The last time famine threatened in Gaza, international pressure led to an increase in aid. Obviously, though, this was only temporary. And that is why it is important to recognise that other options are available to Australia. The UK has now announced it is working with Jordan to deliver aid and will medically evacuate children. France has said it will recognise Palestine as a state, something former Labor ministers Gareth Evans, Bob Carr and Ed Husic are calling for here. On Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made clear that Israel has breached international law. This was a welcome injection of clarity. Still, the test at this late stage is no longer whether politicians can issue damning statements. The only meaningful test left is whether our leaders will do everything they can to stop Netanyahu's Israel from killing any more Palestinians.
