Donald Trump has the “greatest chance of any political leader” to broker a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Penny Wong says, after Australia on Tuesday joined with 27 other countries to condemn Israel for the “drip feeding of aid” and the “inhumane killing” of Palestinians.
Wong acknowledged the key role the US – a strong supporter of Israel – plays in the peace process as domestic pressure on the Albanese government to play a more pivotal role in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza mounts.
“It’s good to remember that president Trump has been a very strong advocate for a ceasefire and hostage deal,” the foreign affairs minister told Sky News.
“I think President Trump has the greatest chance of any political leader of brokering a ceasefire.”
Wong added the government’s decision to join the international statement – signed also by the UK, France and others – reflected the “distress” many Australians had felt learning of the more than 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid in Gaza in recent months.
The statement warned “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”.
It expressed horror at the deaths of hundreds of people at aid distribution sites through Gaza, and demanded Israel comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” the statement said.
“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”
The statement pleads for the end of the war in Gaza and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli hostages “cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 [who] continue to suffer terribly”.
“A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.”
But Israel’s representatives and allies have already rebuked the statement, with Amir Maimon, Israel’s ambassador to Australia, writing on X Israel rejects the statement and describing it as “disconnected from reality”.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick and a former Arkansas governor, described the statement as “disgusting” and that “Blaming Israel is irrational”.
Tony Burke, Australia’s home affairs minister, said the bombing of innocent civilians was indefensible.
“We’ve seen too many images of children being killed, of horrific slaughter, of churches being bombed. The images that we’ve seen have been pretty clear that so much of this is indefensible and – as that statement referred to – aid being drip-fed in,” he told the ABC on Tuesday.
On Monday, Israel launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory, amid warnings of widening starvation.
The latest assault began a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed in what has become a grim and almost daily slaughter.
The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, said the majority of those killed on Sunday had gathered near the border fence with Israel in the hope of getting flour from a UN aid convoy when they were fired on by Israeli tanks and snipers.
Trump has this week foreshadowed a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza after suggesting 10 more Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militant group, Hamas, could be released.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has claimed “the most important thing” to note was the continuing detention of Israeli citizens by Hamas.
Federal parliament returned on Tuesday, with pro-Palestinian groups demanding the government do more to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
A coalition of aid groups including Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières started a 24-hour vigil where speakers will read the names of more than 17,000 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
While the Greens initially welcomed the statement, with reservations about its impact on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the minor party’s deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, used a rally outside Parliament House to condemn the Albanese government as “heartless and gutless cowards”.
“To be honest, I have never seen such moral cowardice in my whole life than I see in there, in that parliament, because nothing has moved,” she told an audience of hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters.
“Nothing has moved these heartless and gutless cowards and politicians in that building, week after week, headline after headline, homes flattened, refugee camps bombed, aid convoys attacked. Entire families have been wiped out.”
Faruqi later held up a sign urging sanctions against Israel while the governor-general Sam Mostyn addressed parliament. As Anthony Albanese left the upper house chamber, Faruqi asked: “Prime minister, Gaza is starving, will you sanction Israel?”
ACT police detained 17 people near the Marble Foyer in Parliament House on Tuesday afternoon for causing what an Australian federal police spokesperson alleged was a “disturbance” amid a broader protest. The group were detained by officers while they confirmed individuals’ identities, before being removed from the building.
