Some Australians make Gaza border escape into Egypt
A number of Australians have made it out of the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing in Egypt.
A number of Australians have made it out of the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing in Egypt.
Thirty-four Australians, many of them working for international organisations, had been on a pre-approved list to be able to leave Gaza Strip after enduring an anxious three weeks since the start of the war.
However, at this stage, there is no official confirmation about how many of the Australians had been able to make their way to the crossing and get through the border.
It is understood that at least some of the 34 were among those able to escape the war zone.
The Gaza border crossing had earlier flagged that 81 people on the list of several hundred people who had been pre-approved to make the crossing into Egypt on November 1 were “seriously injured” and had been allowed to leave Gaza in order to seek treatment in Egyptian hospitals. It is unclear at this stage if any of those 81 are Australians or Australian passport holders.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong had said there were 88 Australians and family members in contact with the government in the area.
The ABC on Wednesday reported that some of those Australians received an email from consular officials telling them the border might open at 9am local time (6pm AEDT) on Wednesday and their names were “on the initial list of approved Australians” to cross the border.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said officials were “communicating with all individuals registered with us in Gaza about departure options, including to make them aware of the possibility of the opening of the Rafah border on November 1”.
“Consular officials in Cairo are ready to provide support to those Australians and their family members who cross into Egypt.”
Senator Wong earlier on Wednesday said there was no “concrete update” whether Australians were among those who would be allowed to cross into Egypt.
“We have consistently advocated for that outcome. … We acknowledge the role that Egypt has played and other states in the region,” she told Sky News.
“I spoke two nights ago to my Egyptian counterpart, I again pressed the same view, the same request that Australia has, at my level and at official level, engaged in every day since this conflict began, which is: we want to see our Australians out of Gaza. We have 88 Australians and their families.”
The development came after Anthony Albanese spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time since Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state on October 7.
Mr Netanyahu’s office had updated several world leaders on Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, including the Australian Prime Minister, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The Albanese government continued to call on Israel to follow “international humanitarian law” after an Israeli airstrike overnight reportedly killed dozens in the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp. Senator Wong said the images from the Jabalia refugee camp were “very distressing”.
Asked whether she thought the attack was proportionate, Senator Wong told Sky News: “What I want to keep saying is Australia continues to assert the importance of international humanitarian law.
“We’ve taken a principled approach since the beginning of this conflict. We have unequivocally condemned Hamas and its acts of terror. We have recognised that in response to that, any state has a right to exercise its self-defence. But we have also said to Israel – and publicly – that how you undertake that matters.
“Even in war, there are principles and rules which must be followed. And we have advocated consistently for civilian lives to be protected, for humanitarian law to be observed, and we have advocated for restraint.
“Some have chosen, on either side of this debate, to try and have a political debate about it. But these principles matter to us and I would say they also matter to Israel as a democracy.”
The Haaretz report said Mr Netanyahu thanked the leaders for their support and told them “Israel’s war against Hamas-ISIS (Islamic State) is a war for the entire enlightened world”.
Mr Albanese said the government was “very concerned about humanitarian issues in Gaza”.
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