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Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy is “horrified” and “appalled” by the recent military actions taking place in Gaza.
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The ministerial comments follow military strikes undertaken by Israeli Defense Forces in the western areas of Rafah earlier this week and the reported advance of main battle tanks, military personnel, and armoured vehicles into central Rafah.
Israel’s three-week campaign to free hostages and eliminate Hamas militants in the city received international attention when a fire was reportedly set off by an air strike in a tent camp in the western district of the city.
Australia has previously advocated for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid to flow into Gaza and protect civilians.
“I personally was appalled by what occurred. It is horrific. We’ve been consistent in urging and requesting the government of Israel not to conduct an offensive in Rafah, where half of the Palestinian or half of the 2.3 million Gaza population is residing at the moment,” Minister Conroy said, speaking to ABC 7.30 on 28 May.
“So, I think it’s the nature of the attack. We’ve called on Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah. We’ve called it for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the release of all the hostages by Hamas and immediate access for urgent humanitarian assistance.
“To be frank, images of refugee tents on fire is particularly stark. There’s no other way around it. I am horrified by it. We again urge Israel not to conduct offensive operations in Rafah. We urge Hamas to stop using civilians as human shields and to release all hostages. And we call for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire.”
Minister Conroy said the Australian government’s position is for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, release of hostages and immediate flow of aid.
“We’re incredibly concerned by what we saw in Rafah, and that’s why we’ve been continuing to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, we’ve also called for immediate return of all hostages that Hamas have taken, and the immediate opening of access so we can get massive amounts of humanitarian support into the Gaza,” he said during an interview with ABC News Breakfast on 28 May.
“We’ve also been calling for respect for international law and the protection of civilians of both sides, and I’ll leave it to others to comment more fully on it, but it was obviously incredibly concerning scenes that we’ve all witnessed over the last 24 hours.”
