Media Centre

Australians overwhelmingly (82%) think that Israel’s deliberate blocking of aid into Gaza cannot be justified, according to fresh polling figures, with more than
two in three Australians believing the Australian Government should do more to ensure civilians have access to food, water and medicine – including the vast majority of Labor voters.

The undersigned 55 organisations operating in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) call for urgent action from the international community against new Israeli registration rules for international NGOs.

After 18 months of war, a staggering toll on civilians and aid workers, and now a six-week total siege, the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is facing total collapse with the CEOs of 12 major aid organisations making an urgent plea: let us do our jobs.

The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map. Under the guise of “evacuation,” Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation—this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents.

Aid agencies and medical professionals have joined forces to call urgently for a ceasefire to allow life-saving polio vaccinations to be administered to about 640,000 children aged under 10 following confirmation of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years.

As the people of Gaza face relentless bombardment, death, and destruction on an unprecedented scale, Australian organisations including Plan International Australia, Oxfam Australia, Save the Children, ActionAid, Amnesty International, Muslim Aid Australia, APHEDA-UnionAid Abroad, Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN), the Australian Council for International Development, Australian Council for International Development and Trade Unionists for Palestine are supporting the global call for an end to the transfer of arms to Israel.

States cannot hide behind airdrops and efforts to open a maritime corridor to create the illusion that they are doing enough to support the needs in Gaza: their primary responsibility is to prevent atrocity crimes from unfolding and apply effective political pressure to end the relentless bombardment and the restrictions which prevent the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.  

Four in five Australians are in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza (81%), and a majority (53%) support the Australian Government taking more action to achieve that goal, new polling has found.