Australia joins other democracies in letter urging Israel to comply with humanitarian law in Gaza
- by Admin
- May 17, 2024
Israel must comply with international law in Gaza and address the devastating humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, a group of Western nations including Australia have written in a letter to the Israeli government seen by the Reuters news agency on Friday.
All countries belonging to the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies, apart from the United States, have signed the letter, Reuters reports, along with Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
The five-page letter comes as Israeli forces bear down on the southern Gaza city of Rafah as part of Israel’s drive to eradicate Hamas, despite warnings this could result in mass casualties in an area where displaced civilians have found shelter.
“In exerting its right to defend itself, Israel must fully comply with international law, including international humanitarian law,” the letter says.
It also reiterates the countries’ “outrage” at the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel which triggered the conflict.
Israel denies blocking humanitarian aid to the territory, and says it needs to eliminate Hamas for its own protection.
The Western nations say in the letter they are opposed to “a full-scale military operation in Rafah” and called on Israel to let humanitarian aid reach the population “through all relevant crossing points, including the one in Rafah”.
“According to UN estimates, an intensified military offensive would affect approximately 1.4 million people,” the letter says, underscoring the need “for specific, concrete and measurable steps” to significantly boost the flow of aid.
The letter recognises Israel has made progress in addressing a number of issues, including letting more aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, the reopening of the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza, and the temporary use of the Port of Ashdod in southern Israel.
But it called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to do more, including working towards a “sustainable ceasefire”, facilitating further evacuations and resuming “electricity, water and telecommunication services”.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Australia was a signatory to the letter, and said it was consistent with the Australian government’s ongoing advocacy for a humanitarian ceasefire and safe, unimpeded humanitarian access into and within Gaza.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel’s Gaza offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and abducted 253 in their attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
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First aid shipment crosses pier into Gaza
Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built US pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time on Friday, as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hindered the delivery of food and other supplies.
The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day, all while Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah.
But the US and aid groups warn that the floating pier project is not a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza.
Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the territory on an average day.
The operation’s success also remains tenuous because of the risk of militant attacks, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the trucks to run due to Israel’s blockade of Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza and fuel is dwindling, while the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Program say famine has already taken hold in Gaza’s north.
Troops finished installing the floating pier on Thursday, and the US military’s Central Command said the first aid crossed into Gaza at 9am Friday.
It said no American troops went ashore in the operation.
“This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organisations,” the command said.
Rafah hospital braces for casualty influx
The Kuwaiti Speciality Hospital is one of the few places in Rafah the wounded or dying can turn for care, but that may change if Israel launches a full-scale advance into the southern Gaza city, doctors there say.
Staff at the hospital say they fear such an assault would produce a crush of new patients that would overwhelm exhausted doctors, who already complain of shortages of medicine and proper equipment.
“We have been here from the start of the war until now, and I do hope they will not target us, they will not threaten us,” said doctor Jamal al-Hams.
“I do hope the whole medical team will continue to present its services to the injured people, to the critically ill patients, to the people who have chronic diseases.”
Gaza’s medical system has virtually collapsed under Israel’s bombardment began in October.
Doctors complain they have to perform surgery, including amputations, with no anaesthetics or painkillers.
Palestinian Abdelilah Farhat, a patient at the hospital, said he had survived a brush with death while he was out looking for a grocery store that was open.
“Thank God, he had it fated that I would get injured, and he saved me. The rocket fell only one metre away from a man,” he said.
“They [the IDF] dropped a rocket on civilians just walking — they were just looking for food to eat.”
Witnesses and medical professionals said Israeli troops have attacked hospitals, blockaded them and killed doctors and other civilians there. Israel denies such allegations and says it goes to great lengths to protect civilians.
It says hospitals in Gaza are used by Hamas as bases, and has released videos and pictures supporting the assertion. Hamas and medical staff deny this.
Israel recovers three hostages from Gaza
Israeli forces on Thursday night local time rescued the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip.
Chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Friday local time that the bodies had been identified as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter, who he said “were murdered by Hamas while escaping the Nova music festival on October 7 and their bodies were taken into Gaza”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the military operation and reiterated a pledge to return all the hostages.
“We will bring back all our hostages, whether they are alive or dead,” he said in a statement.
Reuters/AP/ABC
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