Australia presses Israel on Gaza aid response

Australian Jewish leaders described a joint statement signed by Australia and 22 other countries calling for more aid into Gaza as well-intentioned, but failing to address how to avoid Hamas stealing aid and not acknowledging UNRWA complicity in terrorist offences.

The statement signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other nations on Tuesday said they could not support Israel’s “new model for delivering aid into Gaza”. On Monday Israel said it was allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza following a two-month blockade, which was criticised by the UN as insufficient.

The countries called for Israel to “allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately, and enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially”, reiterating their “firm message that Hamas must immediately release all remaining hostages and allow humanitarian assistance to be distributed without interference”.

It was signed by foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and senior EU officials.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion noted the statement “calls on Hamas to ‘allow humanitarian assistance to be distributed without interference’, but says nothing about how this essential requirement is to be achieved”.

“Unless this issue is resolved, the benefit to civilians of resuming aid deliveries will be severely undermined, and the unintended consequence will be to benefit Hamas and encourage it not to release the hostages,” he said.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said, “More attention should have been paid to the overwhelming evidence that UNRWA and other agencies were being abused on a massive scale by Hamas.”

Zionist Federation of Australian president Jeremy Leibler said, “Let’s be clear: the reason humanitarian aid is even necessary is because Hamas, a terrorist organisation, has embedded itself in civilian areas, and has continued to hold hostages for 591 days while launching attacks on Israel.

“Australia can continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself, while continuing to work with partners to ensure aid reaches civilians.”