Australians ‘strongly concerned’ about Gaza deaths, Wong tells Israel

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has used a visit to Israel to tell the Netanyahu government that Australians have strong concerns about the high numbers of civilian deaths in Gaza, urging Israel to take steps towards a ceasefire.

As well as meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, Wong held an emotional hour-long encounter with the families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

Wong was immediately ushered to high-level meetings after arriving in Israel from Jordan, where she met the Jordanian foreign minister and announced a $22 million boost in Australian aid for Palestinians affected by the conflict.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong leaving Adelaide on Monday for her trip to the Middle East.Credit: AAP

In her meetings with Katz and Herzog, Wong condemned Hamas for the October 7 attacks, when the terrorists were estimated to have killed 1200 people, and called for the release of all hostages remaining in Gaza.

Noting that democracies are held to high standards, Wong said Australians place a high importance on international law.

Describing the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “dire”, Wong said that Australians have “strong concerns” about the number of civilians who have died since the fighting began, according to sources briefed on the conversations.

The death toll in Gaza has passed 24,000 according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

United Nations agencies have this week pleaded for more aid to enter the Gaza Strip to ward off famine and disease outbreaks.

In the meetings in Jerusalem, Wong repeated her previous formulation that Australia wants Israel to take steps towards a sustainable ceasefire, but that any truce cannot be one-sided.

Talking with the families of Israeli hostages abducted to Gaza, Wong said: “I’m really profoundly grateful that you are willing to speak with me...Our nation stands in solidarity with Israel and with you.”

Among the families Wong met with were the relatives of Norberto Louis Har, 70, who was taken hostage from a kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7 alongside his partner Clara Marman, 62.

Wong, who has faced criticism for declining to visit a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas, will on Thursday meet with representatives of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and victims of Israeli settler violence.

After a meeting with Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Wong said that Australia respects the independence of the International Court of Justice, which is considering a genocide charge against Israel brought by South Africa.

But she added: “Our support for the ICJ and respect for its independence does not mean we accept the premise of South Africa’s case. We will continue to work for a just and enduring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

In the new funding package, Australia will provide $4 million to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for emergency services and supplies; $6 million through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for urgent assistance including food, shelter and emergency health care; and $11.5 million to refugee programs in Lebanon and Jordan amid increasing instability in the region.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said he was concerned some of the funding for UNRWA could make its way to Hamas. Paterson said UNRWA has “in the past been implicated with funding, inadvertently, organisations like Hamas” and that UNRWA-run schools have been implicated in teaching anti-Semitic content to their students.

“I do want the government to be able to reassure Australians that taxpayers money won’t end up finding its way to Hamas because they funded UNRWA,” Paterson told the ABC.

On Wednesday (AEDT) Israeli tanks stormed back into parts of the northern Gaza Strip, residents told Reuters, reigniting some of the most intense fighting since the new year.

Massive explosions could be seen over northern areas of Gaza – a rarity over the past two weeks after Israel announced a drawdown of forces in the north as part of a transition to smaller, targeted operations.

The rattle of gunfire reverberated across the border through the night. In the morning, contrails snaked through the sky as Israel’s Iron Dome defences shot down rockets fired by militants across the fence, proof they retain the capability to launch them despite more than 100 days of war.

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