Albanese, Wong express concern over Gaza strikes
'We're calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,' the Prime Minister said on Tuesday
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed Australia’s concern as Israel resumed military strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The strikes, which Israel says targeted cells of terror operatives, rocket-launching positions, weapons, and other military infrastructure, brought a fragile ceasefire in Gaza to an end after nearly two months of relative calm.
“There’s already been enormous suffering there, which is why we’re calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,” Albanese said on Tuesday. “We’ll continue to make representations. Australia will continue to stand up for peace and security in the region.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong echoed the Prime Minister’s sentiments. “Australia urges all parties to respect the terms of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, and for it to be restored,” Wong said.
Jewish community leaders, meanwhile, responded to the renewed fighting by highlighting Hamas’s responsibility for the continuation of the conflict.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin wrote on X, “Hamas lost the war months ago. Yet it refuses to do what every defeated belligerent does which is to disarm, accept the surrender or exile of what remains of its leadership, release the hostages it holds, and agree to cease hostilities.
“If it did, there would be no more war and the focus would shift to reconstruction and reviving an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Hamas’s failure to do so guarantees more war and more death, mainly for the people it claims to serve. Those who cheer Hamas as some bastion of ‘resistance’ are cheering the certain deaths that come from their insistence on war.”
The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) issued a statement stating it deeply regretted the breakdown of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying it was a result of Hamas’s refusal to release more hostages.
ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “Everyone wanted this ceasefire to hold, but the practical reality is, the war cannot end until Hamas releases all the hostages and are removed from power in Gaza. Hamas started this war on October 7 and can end it today by releasing the hostages. Hamas bears moral and legal responsibility for endangering innocent Palestinian lives.”
ZFA CEO Alon Cassuto also defended Israel’s military response.
“Israel’s inherent right to self-defence is constantly challenged. No other country would be expected to sit idly by while a terrorist organisation holds, and refuses to release, 59 of their citizens hostage for 528 days,” he said.
“It’s clear increased international pressure on Hamas is effective and has resulted in the release of hostages. We urge all Western countries to take that cue and increase their pressure on Hamas.”
comments