Donald Trump says Hamas doesn’t want Gaza ceasefire deal and will be ‘hunted down’
Donald Trump spoke to reporters about Gaza ceasefire talks as he prepared to leave Washington for the UK. (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
In short:
US President Donald Trump has said Hamas does not want to make a Gaza ceasefire deal and he believes the group’s leaders will be “hunted down”.
The US and Israel ended talks in Doha this week, with Benjamin Netanhayu saying Israel will consider “alternative options” to achieve its aims of bringing the hostages home and ending Hamas rule in the territory.
Meanwhile, a Hamas official accuses the US negotiating team of distorting reality and international aid organisations say mass hunger has arrived among Gaza’s 2.2 million people.
US President Donald Trump says Hamas “didn’t want” a ceasefire deal in Gaza and that he believes the militant group’s leaders will now be “hunted down”.
It comes a day after Steve Witkoff, the US envoy to the Middle East, cut short indirect talks with the Palestinian militant group in Doha.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also pulled negotiators, has said that Israel and its allies will pursue “alternative options” to bring the remaining October 7 hostages home and end Hamas rule in the territory.
“It was too bad. Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die,” Mr Trump told reporters, as he prepared to fly to the UK.
“And it’s very bad. And it got to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job.”
Referring to Hamas’s leaders, the president added: “I think they will be hunted down.”
The remarks appeared to leave little to no room to resume ceasefire negotiations, at a time when international concern is mounting over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israel recalled negotiators from Qatar just hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal on Thursday.
Sources initially said that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis.
But Mr Netanyahu’s latest remarks suggested Israel’s position had hardened overnight on Friday.
Responding to a statement from Mr Witkoff blaming Hamas for the impasse and accusing them of acting in bad faith, Mr Netanyahu posted on X he had “got it right”.
“Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal. Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.”
A Hamas official on Friday accused Mr Witkoff of reneging on Washington’s positions and distorting reality.
“The negative statements of the US envoy Witkoff run completely counter to the context in which the last negotiations were held, and he is perfectly aware of this, but they come to serve the Israeli position,” said Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim, in an interview with AFP.
The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by militants in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.
It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached.
France’s declaration ‘doesn’t carry weight’, says Trump
Mr Trump also reacted to French President Emmanuel Macron announcing that France would be the first major Western power to recognise an independent Palestinian state.
″Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the state of Palestine,” Mr Macron had posted on X.
“Peace is possible.”
Responding to the statement, the US president said: “He’s [Macron] a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”
He added: “What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything.”
Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, called the decision by the French president a “reward for terrorism”.
Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process.
Europe’s two other big powers, Britain and Germany, made clear there were no plans to act on Palestinian statehood right away.
Israel says Gaza aid drops to resume
The news comes amid growing concern over starvation and the lack of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave reels from 21 months of war.
Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens.
An Israeli official said on Friday that aid drops would resume soon.
“Humanitarian aid air drops on the Gaza Strip will resume in the upcoming days. They will be managed by the UAE and Jordan,” the official told AFP.
International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza’s 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions.
PM labels Gaza a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’
The prime minister says the conflict in Gaza has stolen “far too many innocent lives”, repeating his desire to see a two-state solution after France moved to recognise a Palestinian state.
On Friday, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany said the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip “must end now”.
“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation,” they said in a joint statement released by Berlin.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that “the most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be met without any further delay”.
“Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” they said.
Israel said it had let enough food into Gaza and accused the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday “a deliberate ploy to defame Israel”.
The UN says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
UN agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialised therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives on the ground.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli air strikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
Reuters/AFP
PM labels Gaza a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ and reaffirms aspiration for Palestinian statehood.
By political reporter Tom Lowrey
In short:
The prime minister has warned Israel to comply with international law, in some of his strongest language on the Gaza conflict to date.
Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his desire to see a two-state solution, following France’s move to recognise Palestine.
The prime minister has labelled the conflict in Gaza a “humanitarian catastrophe”, while reaffirming an existing commitment to a two-state solution.
France has announced it will formally recognise Palestine later this year, becoming the largest and most influential European nation to do so.
In some of his strongest language on the conflict yet, Anthony Albanese said the conflict has gone “beyond the world’s worst fears”.
“Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended or ignored,” he said.
“We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law.”
A line of Palestinian men and women walking in single-file along a dirt track next to a large mound of concrete debris
The UN says thousands of aid trucks are unable to enter Gaza. (AP: Jehad Alshrafi)
It follows Australia joining 27 other countries in a joint statement earlier this week demanding an immediate end to the war.
Israel labelled those joint calls “disconnected from reality”, arguing the attention of those countries should be focused on the actions of Hamas.
Australia does not recognise a Palestinian state, instead referring officially to the West Bank and Gaza as the “Occupied Palestinian Territories”, though it does have diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority.
Albanese pushed to follow France
The new comments from Mr Albanese do not refer directly to France’s moves to recognise Palestine, but point to Australia’s long-standing ambitions around recognition.
“Recognising the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own has long been a bipartisan position in Australia,” he said.
“The reason a two-state solution remains the goal of the international community is because a just and lasting peace depends upon it.
“Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within secure and internationally recognised borders.”
Former Labor minister and MP Ed Husic said the Australian government should follow France’s lead and formally recognise Palestine.
Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Mr Husic said Australia had “the perfect opportunity” to do so.
“We should move to recognise Palestine now, standing alongside France, because there will be a number of countries that will do so,” he said.
“The time is now for us to stand and step forward and say we will recognise the State of Palestine now.”
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said pressure “must be placed where it belongs, on Hamas”.
“To condemn Israel for defending itself is wrong,” he said on X.
“It deflects attention from the real perpetrators of this horror: Hamas.”
Last year, Foreign Minister Penny Wong indicated Australia was considering recognising a Palestinian state as part of a peace process, rather than at the endpoint.
More than 140 countries recognise Palestine
More than 140 countries globally recognise Palestine, however, the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are not among them.
France will become the first G7 country — a powerful bloc of some of the world’s most advanced economies — to do so.
Speaking on Friday in Sydney, Penny Wong made clear Australia remains committed to a two-state solution, and would not be following France’s lead.
However she said Australia would continue calls — alongside allies — for a ceasefire and a more substantial flow of aid into Gaza.
“We all are distressed by the ongoing violence, the deaths of so many innocent civilians, the innocent children surviving, the humanitarian catastrophe that’s worsening before our eyes and we all want it to stop,” she said.
Senator Wong met on Friday with her UK counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is in Australia for annual “AUKMIN” talks.
The UK also does not recognise a Palestinian state, but Mr Lammy said both countries remain firmly committed to the pursuit of a two-state solution.
“The belief in a two-state solution is steadfast in both of our countries, that is the only solution to the long standing issues that we see in the region,” he said.
The Coalition has criticised the prime minister’s statement, with Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash arguing it disregards Hamas’s responsibility for the conflict.
“It is disappointing that Prime Minister Albanese’s statement about Gaza once again fails to place any blame on Hamas, a listed terrorist organisation, for the delays in aid reaching the people of Gaza,” she said.
“Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas. Hamas and its allies have tried to disrupt the flow of aid into Gaza and have stolen humanitarian aid for their own purposes.”
Hamas has denied these allegations.
But Senator Cash said Israel must also work to get more aid into Gaza.
“The Coalition acknowledges that the delay in aid entering Gaza is unacceptable and that the Israeli government needs to urgently work with international bodies to allow aid to flow freely to those that need it,” she said.
“However, the right system must be in place so that it can be distributed without Hamas intervening in the process.”
Which countries recognise the state of Palestine. What would statehood look like?
By Zena Chamas
As of 2025, there are about 147 countries that officially recognise the state of Palestine.
France is set to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September, bringing the total to 148 countries.
France to recognise Palestinian state in September
Photo shows A headshot of Emmanuel Macron with a neutral expression in front of a French and European Union flag. A headshot of Emmanuel Macron with a neutral expression in front of a French and European Union flag.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement, posted on X, includes a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the decision.
Currently, there is no Palestinian state.
Instead, there are the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Only the Jewish state — Israel — exists.
Some Palestinians live in Israel as citizens. Others live as refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
Which countries recognise Palestinian statehood?
As of March 2025, the state of Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign nation by 147 of 193 member states of the United Nations, about 75 per cent.
In 2024, a group of UN experts called on all United Nations member states to recognise the State of Palestine, in order to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid the Israel-Gaza war.
Since then, nine countries — Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados — formally recognised the State of Palestine.
Most of the Middle East, Africa and Asia recognise Palestinian statehood.
On Thursday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise a Palestinian state in hopes it would bring peace to the region.
In response to Mr Macron’s move, Mr Netanyahu said that such a move “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy”
“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it,” Mr Netanyahu said in a post on X.
In other parts of Europe, Slovenia, Malta and Belgium are yet to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea also do not.
What’s Australia’s position?
Australia does not recognise a Palestinian state.
On its website, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade states Australia is: “Committed to a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist, in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders.”
Australia condemns Israel as civilian death toll climbs
Public outrage as the Palestinian death toll has climbed has been followed only slowly by official statements from governments reluctant to criticise Israel — until now.
The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has argued that Australia symbolically recognising Palestinian statehood would mean “establishing a formal diplomatic relationship with Palestine”.
Australia currently has an ambassador to Israel, but only a representative to Palestine.
In recent comments, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not refer directly to recognising Palestine, but pointed to Australia’s long-standing ambitions around recognition.
“Recognising the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own has long been a bipartisan position in Australia,” Mr Albanese said.
“The reason a two-state solution remains the goal of the international community is because a just and lasting peace depends upon it.
“Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within secure and internationally recognised borders.”
Last year, Foreign Minister Penny Wong indicated Australia was considering recognising a Palestinian state as part of a peace process, rather than at the endpoint.
This week, Australia joined 27 other countries demanding an immediate end to the war.
In November 2024, Australia voted in favour of a draft United Nations resolution recognising “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians and the Golan Heights to natural resources in the Occupied Territories for the first time in more than two decades.
A total of 159 countries voted in favour of the draft resolution in a UN committee, including Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Germany and Japan.
What would Palestinian statehood look like?
The State of Palestine was formally declared by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on November 15, 1988.
It claims sovereignty over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
According to senior lecturer in law at the University of South Australia, Juliette McIntyre, a state has certain defining features under international law.
These features include a permanent population, a determinate territory, an “effective” government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.
“In some ways, the most important thing is recognition by other states — this enables entering into diplomatic relations, and membership of international organisations,” Dr McIntyre said.
She added that the governance of a Palestinian state could look like “free and fair elections for all Palestinians exercising their right of self-determination”.
“It is up to the Palestinian people to elect their representatives and decide on their form of governance,” she said.
Recognising a Palestinian state could mean the beginning of a “two-state solution” where both a Jewish state and an Arab state would exist at the same time.
“A two-state solution requires two states. Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory has been found to be unlawful.
“Recognition of Palestine is not hostile to Israel, Israel is an established state and recognition of Palestine does nothing to impact on this,” Dr McIntyre said.
Is there a way out of this conflict? Ben Knight looks at the possible solutions to the crisis.
The two-state solution is still widely regarded by world leaders as the only way to end the conflict, but is not as popular in Israel and parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The territorial integrity of both states should be respected, and new borders could only come about by treaty agreement between both states,” Dr McIntyre said.
What are the one-state and two-state solutions?
Photo shows Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of two Israeli flags. Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of two Israeli flags.
For decades world leaders have agreed the only way to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-state solution. So why hasn’t it happened?
On Wednesday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted 71-13 in favour of annexation of the West Bank, raising questions about the future of a Palestinian state.
The non-binding vote was backed by members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, as well as some opposition members of parliament.
In a recent post on X, Mr Netanyahu said: “Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel.”
Both Mr Netanyahu and other members of Israel’s parliament have shown their lack of support for a two-state solution.
This year, the UN, which largely supports a two-state solution, will hold an international conference on the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution in New York from July 28 to 29.
The United States has opted out of attendance.
Israel’s actions in Gaza put it at risk of becoming a global pariah
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-26/israel-starvation-aid-global-pressure-gaza/105555092
By Laura Tingle
Israel’s parliament — the Knesset — this week voted 71-13 in favour of annexing the occupied West Bank.
It was a symbolic, non-binding vote but one that gives a window into the mindset within Israel that is feeding the humanitarian disaster the world is witnessing in Gaza.
That is a disaster with no end in sight following yet another breakdown in ceasefire talks in Qatar on Thursday night, and despite the escalation in international pressure this week, first in a statement from 28 countries attacking Israel’s approach to allowing aid into the strip and, early on Friday Australian time, French President Emanuel Macron’s announcement that France would recognise a Palestinian state.
The significance of the French president’s intervention lies in the fact that he is the first of the G7 nations to commit to recognise Palestine — a step that many, including Australia, have argued until now needed to await a ceasefire and a clarification that Hamas would not have a role in its governance.
International community condemns aid denial
Macron’s move was followed by a further ramping up of pressure, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convening an “emergency call” with France and Germany to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need”.
Starmer said “the suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible”.
PM labels Gaza a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’
The prime minister says the conflict in Gaza has stolen “far too many innocent lives”, repeating his desire to see a two-state solution after France moved to recognise a Palestinian state.
He hinted that the UK, too, may consider recognising the state of Palestine, calling statehood “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”.
Anthony Albanese joined the chorus with his own statement on Friday, saying that “tens of thousands of civilians are dead, [and] children are starving” (though not going as far as to advocate recognising the state of Palestine).
“Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.
“Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.
“We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law.”
But Macron’s statement revealed just how immune to international pressure the Netanyahu government seems to be.
The vote on annexing the West Bank — an idea originally proposed by far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal Israeli settlement — may only have been symbolic, but clearly placed the issue formally on the agenda for the future.
But this escalated rapidly in the wake of the Macron statement, with Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin immediately saying Israel’s response must be to annex the West Bank.
“It is time to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley [the biblical terms Israel uses for the West Bank],” Levin said.
“This is the response of historical justice to the shameful decision of the French president.”
The Times of Israel reports that the Yesha Council, representing West Bank settlement municipal authorities, made the same call after Macron’s announcement.
“The Knesset has supported [annexation], now it’s the turn of the government,” the Yesha Council said.
At odds with a ceasefire
The active pursuit of the idea of annexing the West Bank does not suggest a mindset that is seriously considering a ceasefire in Gaza, let alone a two-state solution.
A two-state solution without the West Bank hardly seems a viable proposition.
Equally, the now-deliberate physical destruction of much of Gaza by Israel can only be seen to be directed at destroying its viability as a place for anyone to live.
‘Major starvation’ takes hold in Gaza
In a ward of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, multiple children and some adults can be found emaciated from the lack of food. Doctors say the rate of death from starvation is rapidly rising.
BBC Verify this week produced shocking pictures of the systematic destructions of large sections of Gaza by Israel — not just buildings damaged by earlier rocket strikes but whole neighbourhoods and villages.
The parliamentary pressure from the far right on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his precarious minority government has been intense, and one of the few positive lights is that the parliament is next week going into recess until October, reducing the threat that it can be toppled.
That’s not an endorsement of the government, just an observation that a sense of imminent threat from the far right when the parliament is in session must only intensify the pressure on Netanyahu to up his aggression towards the Palestinians even further.
But none of that pressure can alone explain what the rest of the world sees day by day in terms of the extent of the aggression of the Israeli government’s strategy, or how it is prosecuted by the Israel Defense Forces against civilians in Gaza, in what Albanese on Friday described as “a humanitarian catastrophe in the denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food” which he said “cannot be defended or ignored”.
Journalist breaks down after woman collapses from starvation in Gaza
Man-made mass starvation
The Economist observed this week that the war against Hamas had become “militarily pointless” and was “turning Israel into a pariah”.
“The IDF control about 70 per cent of the strip. Hamas is defeated,” The Economist’s editorial said.
“Its leaders are dead, its military capacity is a tiny fraction of what it was on October 7, 2023 and its fighters are contained in pockets making up 10-20 per cent of the territory.
“Hamas’s backer, Iran, is humbled. Operations by the IDF are achieving little.”
Yet Israel continues to imply that Hamas is the lethal force that it was even 12 months ago, and that it is Hamas, rather than Israel, that is stopping aid getting into Gaza: a proposition firmly disputed and rejected by both aid agencies and the United Nations.
Palestinians gathering to receive food this week. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)
“A large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week.
“I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation. And it’s man-made”, he said, asserting the man-made cause of the mass starvation was the aid blockade imposed by Israel.
Man-made mass starvation is considered a crime against humanity, as is the forced displacement of people.
The reality of the situation on the ground in Gaza, and the spectre of children dying of malnutrition or starvation, sits at such extraordinary odds with the language of spokespeople for both the Netanyahu government and the IDF.
In the face of growing international outrage about growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that, “in Gaza today there is no famine caused by Israel”.
“There is, however, a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas. Now, too often the full story is not being told. The suffering exists because Hamas has created it. The suffering exists because Hamas has made it.”
A young girl with a food bowl on her head waiting in line.
The human toll of the situation in Gaza is growing. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)
Campaign for sanctions ramps up
One of the world’s most lethal military and security forces — forces that can run operations that wipe out large sections of the leadership of Hezbollah in precision operations in Iran and Lebanon — regularly tell us that their operations in Gaza are planned with equal precision, yet somehow manage to kill and maim thousands of civilians as well as aid workers, doctors and journalists.
The United States and, for that matter, some Arab states that might be able to exert some influence on Israel remain deafeningly silent.
Gaza’s aid looting gangs
Violent gangs have been raiding convoys of aid as they are trucked through Gaza, and behind one of the largest groups is a criminal who has reportedly been armed and protected by Israel.
The international community beyond the United States has clearly been trying to coordinate a gradual ramp up in pressure on Israel — and for that matter the Trump administration — on the basis that it needs to have further sanctions in reserve against administrations in Tel Aviv and Washington with little care for what others think.
But the human crisis in Gaza has made such a cautious approach look much too weak.
Analysts watching how Donald Trump has behaved in the various international crises in which he has intervened, or promised to intervene, believe he is happiest when he can make a short, sharp, effective intervention (like the stealth bombing operation in Iran) and can then claim some success.
But they also believe that the US president likes to be seen to be running things.
The question, therefore, is whether the push by other countries to ramp up the pressure on Israel will provoke him to act, lest he be perceived to not be directing events.
Whatever now happens, Israel’s actions not only risk it appearing to be a pariah, but potentially a rogue state.
And if that is correct, it implies a very different treatment by the rest of the world than the one it has received until now.
Laura Tingle is the ABC’s Global Affairs Editor.
‘Catastrophe must end now’: European leaders unite on Gaza, divide on statehood
David Crowe
Frankfurt: European leaders have split over whether to recognise a Palestinian state after French President Emmanuel Macron made an urgent case to do so, highlighting divisions over the war in Gaza despite shared concern over civilian deaths.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer chose not to back the French call after they spoke with Macron, amid competing pressures on each leader over relations with Israel.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity distribution point in the city of Gaza.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity distribution point in the city of Gaza.Credit: Bloomberg
But they sought to intensify pressure on Israel to end the attacks on Gaza and send urgent humanitarian aid to stop the starvation of Palestinian civilians.
“The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now,” the three leaders said in a joint statement.
“The most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be met without any further delay.
“Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”
In a significant warning to Israel about its obligations under international law, the three leaders said the United Nations and non-government organisations should be allowed to distribute aid.
“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation,” they said.
“Israel must uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
They also rejected the actions of Israelis who claim land in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“Threats of annexation, settlements and acts of settler violence against Palestinians undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution,” they said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned Israel’s denial of aid into the Gaza Strip as indefensible.
Macron, Starmer and Merz have worked closely on the war in Ukraine, calling themselves the E3 as representatives of major nations in Europe, but their differences on Palestine highlight the vexed debate over Macron’s declaration.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also held out against recognising Palestine, with her government saying the move could only come if the Palestinian state simultaneously recognised Israel.
Starmer is under growing political pressure from some of his colleagues to show more support for Palestinians, with 110 Labour MPs signing a letter calling for swift recognition.
Another 111 MPs from other parties have also signed the letter, organised by Labour MP Sarah Champion, so the call has the support of more than one third of the members of the House of Commons.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime
The letter, issued on Friday in London, cited Britain’s pivotal mandate in 1917 to call for a Jewish state in Palestine – known as the Balfour Declaration after the foreign secretary at the time – as a reason to support the Palestinian people.
“Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution,” said the letter.
“Such a recognition would give that position substance as well as living up to a historic responsibility we have to the people under that mandate.”
Related Article
Smoke and fire rise to the sky following an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Thursday.
Israel and US condemn ‘reckless’ French decision to recognise Palestine, as Gaza talks break down
European leaders have condemned the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tightened military control of the narrow territory.
Macron went further than other major European leaders on Thursday by declaring that France would recognise the state of Palestine.
“We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza,” he said.
“We must also ensure the demilitarisation of Hamas, secure and rebuild Gaza.
“And finally, we must build the State of Palestine, guarantee its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the region.”
France is expected to take the formal step toward recognition at the UN General Assembly in September, setting up a significant debate when US President Donald Trump has dismissed Macron’s statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the French president’s call on the grounds that Hamas or others would inflict more terror on Israel under the statehood idea, acting as proxies for Iran.
“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it,” he said.
“Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel.”
Starmer responded to Macron’s declaration by saying he wanted a pathway to peace, with several steps.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that,” he said.
“But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
The German government also indicated it saw statehood as one of the final steps toward a two-state solution, and that it would have to be part of an outcome that brought security to both sides.
with Reuters, AP
‘We have crossed the line’: Gaza hunger crisis turns into death spiral
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/we-have-crossed-the-line-gaza-hunger-crisis-turns-into-death-spiral-20250725-p5mhq4.html
By Wafaa Shurafa, Sarah El Deeb and Lee Keath
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip: Five starving children at a Gaza City hospital were wasting away, and nothing the doctors tried was working. The basic treatments for malnourishment that could save them had run out under Israel’s blockade. The alternatives were ineffective. One after another, the babies and toddlers died over four days.
In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed up by hunger are overwhelming the Patient’s Friends Hospital, the main emergency centre for malnourished kids in northern Gaza.
Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms, 1½-year-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsens. This photo was taken on July 21.
Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms, 1½-year-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsens. This photo was taken on July 21.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images
The deaths last weekend also marked a change: the first seen by the centre in children who had no pre-existing conditions. Symptoms are getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, Dr Rana Soboh, a nutritionist, said. In past months, most improved, despite supply shortages, but now patients stay longer and don’t get better, she said.
“There are no words in the face of the disaster we are in. Kids are dying before the world … There is no uglier and more horrible phase than this,” Soboh, who works with the US-based aid organisation Medglobal, which supports the hospital, said.
This month, the hunger that has been building among Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians passed a tipping point into accelerating death, aid workers and health staff say. Not only are children – usually the most vulnerable – falling victim under Israel’s blockade since March, but also adults.
In the past three weeks, at least 48 people died of causes related to malnutrition, including 28 adults and 20 children, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday. That’s up from 10 children who died in the five previous months of 2025, according to the ministry.
Humanitarian groups warn that “mass starvation” is spreading and the situation is rapidly worsening.
The United Nations reports similar numbers. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday it has documented 21 children under the age of five who died of causes related to malnutrition in 2025. The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, said on Thursday at least 13 children’s deaths were reported in July, with the number growing daily.
“Humans are well-developed to live with caloric deficits, but only so far,” Medglobal co-founder and paediatrician Dr John Kahler said. He has volunteered twice in Gaza during the war.
“It appears that we have crossed the line where a segment of the population has reached their limits.
“This is the beginning of a population death spiral.”
The UN’s World Food Program says nearly 100,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition. Medical workers say they have run out of many key treatments and medicines.
Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies over the past two months, has blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution. The UN counters that Israel, which has restricted aid since the war began, simply has to allow it to enter freely.
Hundreds of malnourished kids brought daily
The Patient’s Friends Hospital overflows with parents bringing in scrawny children – 200 to 300 cases a day, Soboh said.
On Wednesday, staff laid toddlers on a desk to measure the circumference of their upper arms – the quickest way to determine malnutrition. In the summer heat, mothers huddled around specialists, asking for supplements. Babies with emaciated limbs screamed in agony. Others lay totally silent.
The worst cases are kept for up to two weeks at the centre’s 10-bed ward, which this month has had up to 19 children at a time. It usually treats only children under five, but has begun taking some as old as 11 or 12 because of worsening starvation among older children.
Hunger gnaws at staff as well. Soboh said two nurses put themselves on IV drips to keep themselves going. “We are exhausted. We are dead in the shape of the living,” she said.
The five children died in succession last Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Four of them, aged 4 months to 2 years, suffered gastric arrest: their stomachs shut down. The hospital no longer had the right nutrition supplies for them.
The fifth – 4½-year-old Siwar – had alarmingly low potassium levels, a growing problem. She was so weak she could barely move her body. Medicine for potassium deficiency has largely run out across Gaza, Soboh said. The centre had only a low-concentration potassium drip.
The little girl didn’t respond. After three days in intensive care, she died on Saturday.
“If we don’t have potassium supplies, we will see more deaths,” she said.
Australia has joined 27 other nations in condemning Israel’s “drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic need of water and food”. This image was taken in Gaza City on Tuesday.
Australia has joined 27 other nations in condemning Israel’s “drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic need of water and food”. This image was taken in Gaza City on Tuesday.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images
A two-year-old is wasting away
In the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City, two-year-old Yazan Abu Ful’s mother, Naima, pulled off his clothes to show his emaciated body. His vertebrae, ribs and shoulder blades jutted out. His buttocks were shrivelled. His face was expressionless.
His father, Mahmoud, who was also skinny, said they took him to the hospital several times. Doctors just say they should feed him. “I tell the doctors, ‘You see for yourself, there is no food,’” he said.
Naima, who is pregnant, prepared a meal: two eggplants they bought for $US9 ($14) cut up and boiled in water. They will stretch out the pot of eggplant-water – not even a real soup – to last them a few days, they said. Several of Yazan’s four older siblings also looked thin and drained.
Holding him in his lap, Mahmoud Abu Ful lifted Yazan’s limp arms. The boy lies on the floor most of the day, too weak to play with his brothers. “If we leave him, he might just slip away from between our fingers, and we can’t do anything.”
Adults, too, are dying
Starvation takes the vulnerable first, experts say: children and adults with health conditions.
On Thursday, the bodies of an adult man and woman with signs of starvation were brought to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia said. One suffered from diabetes, the other from a heart condition, but they showed severe deficiencies of nutrients, gastric arrest and anaemia from malnutrition.
Many of the adults who have died had some sort of pre-existing condition, like diabetes or heart or kidney trouble, worsened by malnutrition, Abu Selmia said. “These diseases don’t kill if they have food and medicine,” he said.
Deaths come after months of Israeli siege
Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for 2½ months starting in March, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. During that time, food largely ran out for aid groups and in marketplaces, and experts warned Gaza was headed for an outright famine.
In late May, Israel slightly eased the blockade. Since then, it had allowed in about 4500 trucks for the UN and other aid groups to distribute, including 2500 tonnes of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
That is an average of 69 trucks a day, far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN says are needed. The UN has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its trucks. Separately, Israel has also backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which opened four centres distributing boxes of food supplies. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach the sites.
On Tuesday, Israeli prime minister’s office spokesman David Mencer denied there was a “famine created by Israel” in Gaza and blamed Hamas for creating “man-made shortages” by looting aid trucks.
The UN denies Hamas siphons off significant quantities of aid. Humanitarian workers say Israel just needs to allow aid to flow in freely, saying looting stops whenever aid enters in large quantities.
AP
I saw starving children every day in Gaza. It makes you question humanity
Claire Manera
July 25, 2025 — 7.30pm
When you hold a starving baby in your hands, you feel how fragile life is.
I saw starving children every day in Gaza, either in the medical facilities or in the streets with their mothers, begging for food. The toddlers look like babies, and older children are the size of toddlers. If they have enough energy to move, they’re not playing because they’re so traumatised by the bombing, and they’re just looking for water or scraps of food. The mothers keep going because they have to survive – they can’t let their children die; they’re distraught by the state their children are in.
But they’re all wasting away, and they don’t have to. There are hundreds of trucks at the border with all the food that is needed, all the infant formula, all the medical supplies. They’ve been there for months with everything that’s needed for the people of Gaza, especially for the infants, to survive. It makes you question humanity and really wonder: What has gone wrong with the world, that we’re still in this situation where there is so much hatred against people who are defenceless?
The longer-term medical effects of being deprived of food include stunting and wasting. The children will not reach their potential in life if they’re severely malnourished as infants. They won’t develop properly, physically and physiologically, and it can affect mental development, being deprived of all the nutrients that they need. These children don’t have the start in life that they should, and this will affect the whole population.
We haven’t received any medical supplies since March 2, apart from nine trucks that were allowed in by the Israeli authorities. But then they made the trucks come on roads that were very unsafe, in the middle of the night, and eventually they were attacked. And this makes it impossible to continue bringing in medical supplies.
I’ve worked in conflict zones for 20 years. And although the people of Gaza are some of the bravest and most determined that I’ve ever met, they are also a defenceless population: children, infants, women, the disabled, the elderly, all the vulnerable and young adults who are missing their limbs. They’re having to run and hide, and they’re being bombed and starved. It could be stopped by the world, but nothing’s being done about it.
The people of Gaza have been through hell, not just for the past two years but for decades. So they can tell when you’re giving false hope; if a child is not going to survive, then we must be honest. I remember standing by while a five-year-old girl had her dressings changed on third-degree burns, without enough pain medication. She was screaming in agony, and all her parents could do was stand by and watch. And even then, we had to tell the parents that we did not know if the girl would survive – especially without adequate nutrition to heal and recover.
At Nasser Hospital I would see emaciated babies in the neonatal ICU and a paediatric ICU. But while I was there, the Israeli forces attacked the hospital twice – they’d send rockets through the windows of the hospital to target certain individuals who they wanted dead. One of them was said to be an extremely brave journalist who was a patient in the hospital at the time.
But when Nasser Hospital started being surrounded by the Israeli forces, we had to move our burns unit, operating theatres, various departments, physiotherapy and mental health services into a field hospital. But MSF couldn’t move the children and babies from the ICU because you can’t provide intensive care in a field hospital. It felt like we were leaving these babies behind.
But apart from attacking the hospitals, the Israeli forces make it impossible for us to work there. They give displacement orders to the population with warnings and say, “All of this area has to get out of their homes because we’re going to bomb and destroy everything within those boundaries”; it’s called a red zone. So it means you can’t go there because it’s now designated as an area that will be under attack until further notice. One of these warnings was put all around the hospital.
The Israeli authorities would tell MSF that we could go through the red zones but we had to co-ordinate with them. So we would have to tell them exactly what time we were going, and then they would tell us which road we could go on, and we’d have to wait at a checkpoint to get into the hospital, and they would make us wait for hours and hours in the middle of very busy areas where it wasn’t safe. We could hear the bombing around us. They would do this every day. That meant our staff doing 24-hour shifts would have to stay on and do 48 hours or 72 hours because we just couldn’t get in and out properly.
Sometimes there are no warnings given at all before the bombing starts. A bomb was dropped without warning in front of the MSF clinic in Gaza City. By some miracle, none of our staff were killed. Instead, the staff rushed out to the street to save the lives that they could, without even knowing if the bombing had stopped. They saved 28 lives that day.
More than 85 per cent of Gaza is now a red zone, so the population is being forced into a small area that the Israeli authorities call a “concentration zone”. I’m worried because I don’t know what’s going to happen when they have everyone in that area. It’s scary to think what they’re planning once they have people in there. It could be a way to get rid of the whole population.
Labor figures demand Palestinian statehood as PM criticises Israel over famine in Gaza
What I witnessed on the ground is that every time there was talk of a ceasefire, that is when the bombings would increase and the treatment of the civilians would get worse. As soon as there could be a glimmer of hope and a diplomatic solution, more people would start to die in more ways. There’d be more bombings. There’d be tanks coming in faster and faster, destroying buildings. And the shootings, at the distribution sites as well, increase. So we were also receiving cases of people at these distribution sites that are run by the Israeli authorities, people who are shot in the head and in the chest.
You start to lose hope eventually when you can see that the world is not responding, and especially our own government. To go back and do work is easier if you know that the world is behind you and that they’re going to look at a longer solution, but otherwise it’s really heartbreaking. To keep doing that long-term is what breaks your spirit eventually. And this is what is breaking the spirit of our Palestinian staff in Gaza: you can see them becoming more and more depressed, day by day, because they know that the world is not doing anything to help them. Collectively, it’s really hard to keep going.
I’m going back in the coming months and I don’t know how I will be able to do my job and help the people of Gaza. The situation is becoming more and more unsafe.
If people are appalled by these recent photos of starving children and they make their voices heard, they can make a difference and the politicians will have to act. The decision to do something is in the hands of the powers that control the weapons and the money behind it. It is urgent that we speak up now and do everything we can to prevent further deaths of innocent people.
Claire Manera is a Medecins Sans Frontieres Australian emergency co-ordinator. She has worked in conflict zones for the past 20 years, most recently in Gaza.
High schoolers allegedly hurl antisemitic abuse at Jewish children at Melbourne Museum
By Noel Towell and Bridie Smith
Updated July 25, 2025 — 3.20pmfirst published at 12.54pm
The state Education Department has launched an investigation into the alleged antisemitic abuse of a group of primary school students, some as young as 10, during an excursion at the Melbourne Museum on Thursday.
The museum says it too is investigating the incident involving year 5 children from Mount Scopus Memorial College and a group of high school students from Gladstone Park Secondary College.
Education Minister and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll contacted the principal of the Burwood Jewish school after reports that some of high schoolers had called the younger children “dirty Jews” as the two groups undertook a shared activity while visiting the museum.
In a letter to parents, seen by The Age, Mount Scopus deputy principal Greg Hannon said a small group of students from the high school chanted “free Palestine” at some Mount Scopus students.
“Our group leader immediately confronted the senior school educators to address the behaviour of their students,” he said.
Hannon said the Mount Scopus students were quickly moved away from the other school group.
Mount Scopus principal Dan Sztrajt said it was particularly concerning to hear reports of inaction by one of the other school’s educators when asked to stop their students vilifying the Mount Scopus students.
Sztrajt said he had contacted Gladstone Park Secondary College principal Veronica Hoy seeking an explanation and to ask how the incident would be investigated.
“No child should ever be made to feel unsafe or targeted because of their identity or background,” he said.
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Sztrajt said Hoy had expressed concern over the incident and was open to “educational opportunities” to address the matter.
“Mount Scopus Memorial College has offered to work together with the other school to ensure that an appropriate educational response to this incident is made available,” he said.
Hoy did not respond on Friday to a request for comment from The Age.
Mount Scopus parent Tristan Sternson said his 10-year-old boy had been subjected to a “terrifying experience” by the high schoolers.
“He and his classmates were targeted by high school students from a different school,” Sternson wrote in an online post.
“They were tapped on the shoulder and then chanted at by these … students [saying] ‘free Palestine’ and then, as they walked away, were called ‘dirty Jews’ and other racist comments.
“This is not a political debate; this is pure, unadulterated antisemitism and hate.”
Museums Victoria chief executive Lynley Crosswell said an investigation had been launched.
“I am so deeply sorry that this has happened to your son and his classmates at Melbourne Museum,” Crosswell wrote online in response to Sternson’s post.
“An investigation has commenced and we will be in contact with your son’s school and the other school concerned.
“There is no place for racism or vilification in our museums.”
Carroll said he had offered support to the school during a conversation with Sztrajt.
“[I] conveyed my disgust at the antisemitic attacks on their students yesterday,” Carroll said.
“It is unacceptable that students or staff feel unsafe in the community where they learn, work and play.”
Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive Naomi Levin confirmed the Education Department had been in touch following Thursday’s incident, after the council raised concerns on behalf of Mount Scopus parents.
“It is completely unacceptable that our youngest community members are being targeted,” she said.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said they were not aware of any reports about the incident.
The incident comes after Jillian Segal this month released her report into combatting antisemitism in Australia.
The blueprint highlighted education as a key area of focus to help stop antisemitism becoming normalised among young people
“We are on a dangerous trajectory where young people raised on a diet of disinformation and misinformation about Jews today risk becoming fully fledged antisemites tomorrow,” the report says.
Letters The Age
I feel sick. Sick to read that three-month-old Baraa, weighing just three kilograms, is dying of hunger in Gaza (″Children in Gaza face starvation″, 25/7). Sick to know that her mother can’t breastfeed because she too is starving. And sicker still to watch our government’s inaction.
According to UNICEF, more than 5000 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in a single month – a figure that has doubled since January. Clinics report babies with no calcium in their bodies, unable to walk, or even cry. At least 33 people, including 12 children, have died from malnutrition according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry report this week.
This is not a natural disaster. It is the result of a manmade siege. The UN says 600 aid trucks a day are needed to feed Gaza’s population. At last count, only 28 were getting through. All food aid is now funnelled through just four centres across the entire Strip – centres where more than 1000 people have been killed by military strikes while simply trying to collect food.
And what does the Australian government do in response? Offers more fruitless words of condemnation – then punishes a senator for holding up a placard that read: “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel.“
Nothing says ″democracy″ like silencing the one elected official demanding we do something.
Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy
~~~~
World leaders should be ashamed
Why? Why? Why? What have the children of Gaza done to deserve the starvation and pain?
If food shortage and famine were to strike any nation on the planet on this scale, past history tells us the world would show compassion and decency, getting life-saving aid to these poor innocent kids.
Virtually bedridden this week to deal with an issue which is a mere scratch and watching television news around the clock due to an inability to sleep, the images out of Gaza have made me weep.
So-called world leaders everywhere hang your heads in shame, as you too watch those children die. Forget what started all this. Do something, anything, to save those children now.
Alan McLean (Secretary General, Australian Red Cross, 1988-1993)
~~~~
What have we learnt from history?
Re ″Children in Gaza face starvation″ (25/7). Yet another appalling article about the starvation of the people in Gaza. This totally inhumane war must stop. This is unquestionably genocide. The lessons of history have been ignored.
Laima Novackis, Carlton
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Cartoon tells story
A thank you to my favourite Australian newspaper The Age for finally displaying the horrors taking place daily in Gaza at the hands of the Natanyahu Government and the IDF. I should also thank cartoonist Cathy Wilcox (25/7) for yet another brilliant cartoon, which captures what a thousand words could not.
Roger Christiansz, Wheelers Hill
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Shame and grief
The front-page image of a mother and starving child in Gaza, (25/7), made me wish every member of parliament had supported and joined Senator Mehreen Farqi’s silent protest in parliament against the genocide in Palestine. What better place and time to register our shame and grief.
Kay Moulton, Surrey Hills
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Stop assisting
It’s time for Australia to announce and impose sanctions on exports of components for military hardware to Israel immediately.
Cecilia Cairns, North Carlton
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Out of proportion
While truckloads of donated stockfeed make their way to drought-stricken southern Australian farms, the Israeli government continues to confound distribution of aid to its neighbours in Gaza. After ceaseless bombardment from US-manufactured weapons of destruction, starvation has been added to the arsenal. The events of October 7, 2013 were shocking, but the response is not proportional. No more war.
David Harris, Ivanhoe
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Crisis of Hamas’ making
Rodger Shanahan (“Overkill in Gaza: Penny Wong was right to call out Israel”, 25/7) overlooks the important fact that Israel agreed to the ceasefire deal proposed by the mediators, but Hamas refused. Even Qatar now says it’s Hamas holding up a deal.
A different Israeli offer to immediately stop the war and allow safe passage to a third country for Hamas leaders in exchange for Hamas releasing the hostages and surrendering weapons has long been on the table.
Hamas refuses because it is determined to retain control in Gaza, rebuild, and attack Israel again. It uses the humanitarian crisis to get pressure on Israel.
In what other conflict would a government whose people are starving because of a war it started not be the one under pressure to end it?
Danny Samuels, Malvern
Ahmad’s wife and three kids all have Australian visas. They still can’t come in
Mostafa Rachwani
July 26, 2025 — 5.00am
Last year, Ahmad Badra received a visa to enter Australia. Safely arriving to stay with his sister in Greenacre, in western Sydney, the next step was to have his family join them.
But despite successfully receiving the same visas months later, Badra’s wife and three children, aged 10, 12 and 13, remain stuck in Gaza. He remains in Sydney, praying.
Weeks of waiting have become months, and hope has turned to despair as Badra applies and reapplies for their visas.
“We’ve tried to get them out multiple times, but they’re never allowed out,” he said. “They just get the visas and sit and wait, hoping a crossing will be opened, and they can leave.
“They can die at any time, and I am just sitting here, waiting. There’s no food and no safety, they can die of starvation or bombing, and I can do nothing.
“If I had known they wouldn’t be able to leave, I never would have left. I’d prefer to die there together than live here in suffering.”
The federal government has a special visa pathway for Palestinians arriving from Gaza, which involves applicants arriving in Australia on a visitor visa and then applying for a humanitarian one.
But the program is dependent on Gazans making their own way to Australia, and since Israel took control of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, the flow of refugees has slowed. Of the 94 successful applicants this year, only 33 have arrived in Australia.
The situation has left refugees split from their families, with very little hope of a reunion any time soon.
Haba AlSabaawi arrived in Australia in May 2024, after her husband’s family applied on her behalf. Her visa allowed her to leave Gaza, but without her two children from her first husband.
Since then, she has been able to speak to them only in spurts when the internet connects. She says she is unable to help them and unable to protect them from the death that surrounds them in Gaza.
Palestinian refugee Haba AlSabaawi, photographed at her home in Brisbane, cannot get her two children and her mother to Australia despite the group successfully receiving visas.
Palestinian refugee Haba AlSabaawi, photographed at her home in Brisbane, cannot get her two children and her mother to Australia despite the group successfully receiving visas. Credit: Dan Peled
“They live in a tent with my mother, without food, without safety, with nothing. And I can’t stop thinking about them, I can barely function these days,” she said.
“I spend my days in despair, my thoughts with them. Sometimes I scream, sometimes I cry. All I feel is my suffering, but I can’t do anything to get them out.”
AlSabaawi says she is afraid her children will die in Gaza and there is nothing she can do about it.
Aid organisations have warned that 2 million Gazans are being pushed to the verge of famine amid Israel’s ongoing aid blockade.
It will soon be two years since Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than half of whom have been women and children.
AlSabaawi and Badar’s lawyer, Amina Youssef, said the refugee intake had slowed after Israel took control of the Rafah border crossing in May last year.
The Australian doctors saving lives in Gaza
Youssef, who has spent the past year applying and reapplying for visas for Gazans, said the only way visa holders could leave was if Australia pressured Israel to allow them to exit Gaza.
“Australia has standing with Israel: it can pressure them to at least get these people through the Rafah crossing. It’s the most important part of this process, just getting them out,” she said.
Youssef accused the federal government of having the capacity but “lacking motivation” to take such actions, arguing that, while it would be unusual for Australia to pressure a foreign government in this way, the extraordinary circumstances of the conflict warranted extraordinary steps.
“It’s terrible that these people are left to their fate. There is no reasonable prospects of them to get out on their own.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it “recognises that this is an incredibly distressing time” for those with family in Gaza and that it was doing all it could to support those with immediate family members, including parents, still in Gaza “who wish to depart but are unable to do so”.
“It continues to be very difficult for people to depart Gaza,” they said.
“The border crossings are controlled by local authorities, not the Australian government. Throughout the conflict there have been tight restrictions on who can cross.
“While we are doing all we can, the Australian government must work within this system, as do other countries with nationals in Gaza. DFAT is in ongoing communication with regional governments as well as like-minded countries.
Letters SMH
Forty-five children died of starvation or malnutrition in Gaza on Thursday. Reports vary between 100 and 300 in the past six weeks, including a six-week-old baby. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by IDF gunfire meant to “disperse crowds” at aid distribution sites, all located in militarised zones. Freelance journalists in Gaza are reporting widespread hunger. The World Health Organisation says 25 per cent of Gaza’s population is facing “famine-like conditions”, and director Tedros Adhanom Gadbreyesus has said it’s a “mass starvation, and it’s man-made”. Let’s call a spade a spade: Israel is starving Palestinians to death.
Marilyn Lebeter, Smiths Creek
~~~~
After the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced that Israel had a right to defend itself but that the response should be measured and proportional. There was the expected pile-on against her by the usual suspects. If only her sentiments had been followed. Article 33 of Geneva Convention IV identifies the collective punishment of a people as a war crime. We learn today that one in five children in Gaza are suffering from malnutrition. People are dying of starvation daily, while tons of aid remains blocked at the borders. In the years to come, this will be recognised as the crime against humanity that it is. It needs to be stopped today.
Jack Amond, Cabarita
~~~~
With the fox in charge of the henhouse, the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) will deny seeing any starvation on its watch. Which is strange really, given the IDF performs military strikes with almost pinpoint accuracy. The death toll of civilians in those misnamed “humanitarian aid” lines has risen to more than 1000. How has the GHF allowed this to happen? It’s a despicable state of affairs and needs universal condemnation, and action.
Helen Lewin, Tumbi Umbi
~~~~
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so how poignant that the Herald front page carries the photo of one-year-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, who is facing life-threatening malnutrition (“Suffer the children”, July 25). When will the world take more decisive action to bring an end to this catastrophic war in Gaza and allow aid to flow? When will all the folk who talk about antisemitism raise their voices to rein in Netanyahu’s tyrannical quest for power and domination of the Palestinians? I hope Muhammad’s picture will be seared into people’s consciousness, just like the “Napalm Girl” picture taken during the Vietnam War.
Rhonda Seymour, Castle Hill
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I’m totally distraught from the shocking images of starvation emerging from Gaza. I don’t care what the rest of the world is doing – I want the Australian government to be courageous and place immediate sanctions on the Israeli government now. It is not a Zionist thing or a Jewish thing or an Israeli thing. It’s a humanitarian thing.
Matt Bower, Green Point
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The heartbreaking front page picture of an emaciated child and mother reduced me to tears of utter despair. How can this be allowed to happen? So much rhetoric from world leaders to absolutely no avail, as the appalling carnage continues.
Elizabeth Kroon, Randwick
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Your front-page photo is today’s real-life version of Michelangelo’s The Pieta. Shame on those countries enabling Netanyahu’s behaviour. Shame on the rest of us for standing idly by and watching the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, illustrated starkly by the photo.
Meg Pickup, Ballina
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A picture, or a cartoon, tells a thousand words. The front-page photo of a mother cradling her starving child, together with the Wilcox cartoon highlighting the fate of Gazans at the hands of Israel, make clear the horrors now experienced by the Palestinian people. The denial of humanitarian aid and the killing of those seeking it is obscene, immoral and a crime against humanity.
Michael Healy, Raworth
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I looked at the Herald’s front-page photo today and wept yet again. How much longer before the world stops talking and does something about removing Benjamin Netanyahu? How is it that this man is allowed to continue, day by day, wreaking death and starvation on the defenceless? Enough talking.
Margaret Ryan, Bexley
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The children of Gaza are being starved to death. They are paying the ultimate price for the 1200 people killed by Hamas in October 2023. There is a moral obligation for Australia to join South Africa in filing the case of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice.
Mark Porter, New Lambton
~~~~
To accompany your front-page headline “Suffer the children”, a reference to the so-called mass starvation in Gaza, you feature a photo of an emaciated child and a very healthy, well-fed woman, purportedly the child’s mother. How is it that the child is cachectic, yet the mother is well nourished?
George Fishman, Vaucluse
~~~~
It is morally indefensible for Australia to remain silent while thousands of civilians in Gaza are bombed, starved and displaced. The deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools and aid convoys has been widely documented and condemned by the UN and humanitarian organisations. As an Australian, I am ashamed that our government has yet to call for sanctions or even a permanent ceasefire. Silence is not neutrality – it is complicity. We must not stand by while war crimes are carried out. Australia must act.
Deborah Nestola, Brighton (Vic)
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Starvation and malnutrition are growing alarmingly in Gaza. Shame on the world’s leaders for remaining so passive for so long. Only now, when images of skeletal children emerge and the weight of public pressure grows, are they saying something. Enough of the meek voices and the moral relativism – concrete, consequential action to stop this atrocity is needed now.
Alexander Lane, Thornleigh
~~~~
Day after day we hear resolutions from nations, the UN and the International Criminal Court condemning the actions of the Israel Defence Forces. We hear terms such as mass starvation, genocide and war crimes, yet the situation in Gaza rages on with no sign of ending, and the world looks on helplessly. Similarly, the war in Ukraine continues after three years, with the US and European nations seemingly powerless to intervene to bring a halt to this unjust war. Given all of this, it is difficult to imagine how the world would respond in any meaningful way to any action by China to seize Taiwan.
Phil Peak, Dubbo
~~~~
Waleed Aly exposes a painful conundrum in the debate over antisemitism (“Segal’s antisemitism plan takes us down a path we should fear to tread”, July 25). Considering the events in Gaza and the West Bank right now, it is to be expected that compassionate people will condemn unbearable cruelty. While we argue over whether criticism of Israel or Zionism is antisemitic or not, innocent men, women and children are dying every day in Gaza from weaponised starvation or being shot for approaching a food convoy. Israel controls the food shipments into Gaza, so Israel is responsible for the present catastrophe. Israel, not Jewish people in general. Just how does one object to these inhumane events without being called antisemitic?
Bruce Spence, Balmain
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I defy anyone to remain dry-eyed after seeing the photo published with Waleed Aly’s article – children holding saucepans forward in the hope of getting a little bit of food, but the look of resignation on their faces is heartbreaking. I had just answered a survey regarding the food that gets delivered to my door, do you mind, and the contrast hit hard. Please, powers that be, get food and water to the starving people of Gaza. Now.
Pen Layton-Caisley, Marrickville
‘Children starving’: Israel condemned over aid denial
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9025271/children-starving-israel-condemned-over-aid-denial/
By Kat Wong and Tess Ikonomou
July 25 2025 – 5:08pm
Australians are distressed by the images of children starving as a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza worsens, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says.
The comments followed a strongly-worded statement from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said the situation in Gaza, where vision of emaciated children has become the norm as Israel denies aid to civilians, had “gone beyond the world’s worst fears”.
The escalation in rhetoric has added intrigue as to whether Australia will follow France’s lead in recognising Palestine.
Asked about Australia’s intentions for a UN General Assembly in September, Senator Wong would not rule out support for statehood.
“We all are distressed by the ongoing violence, the deaths of so many innocent civilians, the images of children starving, the humanitarian catastrophe that is worsening before our eyes, and we all want it to stop,” she told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
The prime minister earlier urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law.
“Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored,” he said.
“Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian.”
Mr Albanese stopped short of saying Australia would immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement.
Mr Albanese instead said recognising the “legitimate aspirations of Palestinian people for a state of their own” was a bipartisan position.
“Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally recognised borders,” he said.
“Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza.”
Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after Israel and the US withdrew from talks.
With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was “purely a political famine”.
“Nothing about this is natural or organic – it’s 100 per cent man-made,” the Refugees International president told ABC Radio.
“We are at – if not past – a tipping point.”
The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger.
According to Mr Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation’s facilities were located far from population centres.
“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce,” he said.
Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort.
While the coalition said it had “strong concerns” about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing Mr Albanese’s statement did not place any blame on Hamas
“Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas,” she said.
Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025.
The opposition says it is disappointing the prime minister’s statement placed no blame on Hamas.
In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of them shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.
Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Mr Albanese also condemned the “terror and brutality” of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.
Australian Associated Press
Anthony Albanese closes in on Palestinian recognition shift
Sarah Ison
Anthony Albanese, who is under growing pressure from within the Labor Party to recognise Palestine, has accused Israel of killing civilians just hours after French President Emmanuel Macron revealed Paris would formally recognise Palestine by September.
France’s commitment sets the stage for the September UN General Assembly meeting in New York – which Australia will also attend – to become a flashpoint in the Middle East conflict.
But the move, along with the following statement by the Prime Minister containing some of the strongest language yet against Israel, sparked alarm from members of Australia’s Jewish community. Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein described the shifting position as “disturbing”.
“Mr Albanese and his government have rightly stated on many occasions that Hamas can have no future role in Gaza, but now he is demanding a ceasefire that would leave it in power there,” Dr Rubenstein said.
“And he is failing to attribute the blame for the distressing Gaza situation toward this banned terror group – which started the war and openly says it sees the suffering of Gaza’s civilians as ‘necessary sacrifices’.”
Dr Rubenstein’s comments – echoed by opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash who said “moral outrage should be aimed at Hamas” – followed the shock announcement by Mr Macron on Friday that his country would recognise Palestine by September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: AP
“True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the state of Palestine,” Mr Macron said in a statement. “I will make this solemn announcement at the United Nations general assembly next September.”
Soon after Mr Macron’s comments, and a statement from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticising the suffering and starvation in Gaza as “indefensible”, Mr Albanese released a formal statement condemning Israel.
It also come a day after the US and Israel ditched ceasefire talks due to Hamas showing a “lack of desire” for peace.
“Tens of thousands of civilians are dead, children are starving,” the Prime Minister said. “Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.
“We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law. This includes allowing the United Nations and NGOs to carry out their lifesaving work safely and without hindrance.”
The shift from France and statements from other western leaders were attacked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the move to recognise Palestine “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became”.
“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not live in peace beside it,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement on X. “Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel.”
While Mr Albanese’s comments on the Middle East situation were welcomed within Labor, MPs and branch members urged the Prime Minister to follow suit with France and commit to recognising Palestine. Recently demoted Labor MP Ed Husic, a Muslim, said on ABC: “The time is now. This is a fairly comprehensive statement that France has put out and I think it is one that Australia has the perfect opportunity now to stand with the French to recognise the state of Palestine.”
His comments echoed those of former Labor foreign minister and long-time Palestinian advocate Bob Carr who said recognising Palestine would “send a message” to Israel.
“We call on the Australian government to implement official platform policy and immediately and unconditionally recognise a Palestinian state on the pre-June 4, 1967 borders.”
More than 100 aid and rights groups this month warned of “mass starvation” in Gaza, with reports of dozens of people – including children – succumbing to malnutrition.
Deputy Prime Minister and leading Labor Right faction figure Richard Marles said the party had “always” been in support of a two-state solution but that a Palestinian state could not have the involvement of Hamas. “We have seen what Hamas has done in terms of the terror that it has brought to bear and the appalling acts that it conducted on October 7,” the Defence Minister said.
Despite this, Mr Marles said that “ultimately the only way to have enduring peace in the Middle East is if there is a two-state solution”.
Standing beside her UK counterpart on Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong reiterated her view that she no longer saw recognition “at the end of a presupposed peace process”, but rather as something that could be achieved before such a process was concluded.
Senator Wong said there were “signs” the Palestinian Authority was seeking to “play its part as a partner of peace”, raising hopes the group could be in a position to govern the territory rather than this being done by Hamas.
However, Israel and other Jewish groups have long pointed to the widespread community support for Hamas leaders over those in the Palestinian Authority, prompting concerns over who would lead a recognised Palestinian state after its first democratic election.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said there was a “clear risk” of international humanitarian law being breached.
“On that basis, the UK government decided to suspend arms sales that could be used in Gaza,” Mr Lammy said in Sydney.
“We remain very concerned about the malnourishment, the starvation that we’re seeing. We have just recently increased our funding to UK-Med to support medical needs in Gaza.”
Australia, the UK and France were among 27 countries that signed a statement this week condemning Israel for “drip-feeding” aid as people of Gaza starved, citing reports that more than 800 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid. “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 read.
The UK is set to discuss the matter of Palestinian recognition when it meets with German and French leaders in Turkey tomorrow, as part of the E3 grouping, during which time it will also take part in discussions with Iranian officials.
Sir Keir has been under sustained pressure from his cabinet to formally recognise Palestine, with the move by France all but expected to force the UK leader into following suit.
The UK will also join a number of other nations, including France, at a UN forum held to discuss the prospect of a two-state solution next week.
Israel to allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza
AFP and Staff writers
Israel will allow Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to parachute food into Gaza as aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children and Donald Trump lashed Hamas for refusing a ceasefire deal.
The aid air-drops will resume in “upcoming days”, an Israeli official confirmed after Doctors Without Borders said that a quarter of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers it had screened at its clinics last week were malnourished.
Hopes of a new ceasefire in Gaza faded this week when Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations in Qatar with Mr Trump saying Hamas did not want a truce.
“It was too bad. Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die,” the US President said.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Hamas was obstructing a deal.
“Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.”
With fears of mass starvation growing, Britain, France and Germany held an emergency call to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discuss steps towards Palestinian statehood.
“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation,” said a joint statement from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.
“Israel must uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
Israel has rejected accusations it was responsible for the chronic shortage of food in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a crisis.
Mohammed al-Mutawaq, an 18-month-old Palestinian boy suffering from medical issues and displaying signs of malnutrition, lies on a mattress inside a tent in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City on Thursday. Picture: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP
Mohammed al-Mutawaq, an 18-month-old Palestinian boy suffering from medical issues and displaying signs of malnutrition, lies on a mattress inside a tent in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City on Thursday. Picture: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP
Mr Macron said France would formally recognise a Palestinian state in September, with Anthony Albanese and the UK’s Sir Keir Starmer facing growing pressure within their parties to do the same.
Some 220 British MPs, including dozens from the ruling Labour party, demanded Friday that the UK government formally recognise a Palestinian state.
Mr Trump dismissed Mr Macron’s move as pointless.
“He’s a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, calling it a security risk and a potential haven for “terrorists”.
On Wednesday, a large majority in Israel’s parliament passed a symbolic motion backing annexation of the occupied West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state.
‘Mass starvation’
More than 100 aid and human rights groups warned this week that “mass starvation” was spreading in Gaza.
Israel has rejected accusations it is responsible for the deepening crisis, which the World Health Organisation has called “man-made”.
Israel placed the Gaza Strip under an aid blockade in March, which it only partially eased two months later.
A senior IDF official told Sky News UK on Friday: “Starting today, Israel will allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza.
“Starting this afternoon, the WCK organisation began reactivating its kitchens.”
‘We cannot deny Hamas’ role in this’: Albanese’s condemnation of Israel analysed
Australia and Jewish Affairs Council’s Joel Burnie discusses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s
Aid group World Central Kitchen halted operation in Gaza in November after a number of its workers were killed in an Israeli air strike.
The Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been distributing aid since May. Witnesses, health officials and the UN human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid from GHF, killing more than 1000 people.
Israel has refused to return to the former UN-led aid system, saying that it allowed Hamas to hijack aid for its own benefit.
Accusing Israel of the “weaponisation of food”, MSF said that: “Across screenings of children aged six months to five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women, at MSF facilities last week, 25 per cent were malnourished.” It said malnutrition cases had quadrupled since May 18 at its Gaza City clinic and that the facility was enrolling 25 new malnourished patients every day.
YOUNG STUDENTS TAUNTED WITH ANTI-SEMITIC SLURS
Lily McCaffrey
Year-five students from a Jewish primary school have been subjected to anti-Semitic slurs while attending a class excursion at the Melbourne Museum.
The 10 and 11 year-old children were allegedly verbally abused with anti-Semitic and political slurs by older students from Gladstone Park Secondary College who were also at the museum on Thursday, Mount Scopus Memorial College principal Dan Sztrajt wrote in a letter to parents, seen by The Australian.
“Our understanding from discussions with our students and the accompanying staff is that the comments included ‘Free Free Palestine’, ‘Dirty Jews’ and ‘Free Hezbollah’,” the letter, sent on Friday, reads.
“One of our accompanying staff members immediately confronted an educator from Gladstone Park asking them to address the behaviour of their students.
“Unfortunately, it appears that their educator did not respond appropriately, allegedly claiming this is ‘just their beliefs’ and asking ‘what do you want me to do about it?’, among other comments.”
Mr Sztrajt said he had spoken with the principal of Gladstone Park Secondary College.
“She conveyed her sincere regret, apologised on behalf of her school, and expressed a willingness to work collaboratively with Mount Scopus,” he wrote.
Victorian Minister for Education Ben Carroll said he had spoken with Mr Sztrajt and conveyed his “disgust at the anti-Semitic attacks”.
“I have offered every support possible to help them through this incident,” Mr Carroll said.
“It is unacceptable that students or staff feel unsafe in the community where they learn, work and play.
“Hate has no place in Victoria. Our strength is our diversity.”
A statement from Mount Scopus said it was “deeply concerned and disappointed by the incident”.
“Of particular concern was the report of inaction by one of the other school’s educators when asked to stop his students from vilifying the Mount Scopus students,” it read.
A spokesperson for Museums Victoria said racism, discrimination and hatred had no place at its museums and that it was “deeply sorry” the incident had occurred at one of its venues.
“We have contacted the parties involved and appreciate they are handling this matter privately and respectfully,” the spokesperson said.
“Museums Victoria is committed to creating an accessible, inclusive, and safe environment for all members of the community regardless of cultural background.”
Parent Tristan Sternson wrote on social media that the excursion had been a “terrifying experience” for his 10-year-old son and his classmates.
“They were tapped on the shoulder and then chanted at by these 16- and 17-year-old students ‘free Palestine’ and then, as they walked away, were called ‘dirty Jews’ and other racist comments,” Mr Sternson wrote on LinkedIn. “This is not a political debate; this is pure, unadulterated anti-Semitism and hate.”
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the high school students involved had “brought disgrace to themselves, their school and their country”.
“Where would Australian high school students learn this behaviour? Form the belief that it is OK, even righteous to see a Jewish symbol on the uniforms of eight- and nine-year-olds and subject them to chants about Palestine?” Mr Ryvchin wrote on X.
“It comes from a certain moral collapse brought about by nearly two years of normalised abuse and violence, where anyone who holds an opposing view on the war is a Nazi and a baby-killer, where anything done to Jews living peacefully on the other side of the world is justified, or if impossible to defend, it’s a false flag.”
Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto said the incident spoke to “a deeper sickness, where Jewish identity becomes a provocation, and anti-Semitism is excused as activism”.
“Ten-year-olds on an innocent excursion were harassed and targeted not for what they did, but for who they are,” Mr Cassuto said.
Lynda Ben-Menashe, president of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia, said a member’s 10-year-old granddaughter was “among the Jewish children publicly accosted and vilified for actions taking place thousands of miles away”.
Gladstone Park Secondary College declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Education. It’s understood the department is investigating the incident.
It follows a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne, including the attempted firebombing attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue and the violent storming of Israeli restaurant Miznon in the city’s CBD earlier this month.
In May last year, Mount Scopus’s Burwood campus was targeted with anti-Semitic graffiti, with the words “Jew die” scrawled on its fence.
GLOBAL SNOWBALL EFFECT FOR PALESTINE STATE: PM WILL ROLL WITH IT
GEOFF CHAMBERS
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are laying the ground for an imminent and significant change to Australia’s long-held position that commits to progressing a two-state solution but does not recognise a Palestinian state.
After months of backroom diplomacy and talks among officials across an alliance of Western countries, the Prime Minister is preparing to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders in formally recognising Palestinian statehood.
Ahead of the Labor leader’s expected attendance at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September, Albanese and Wong are on the brink of fulfilling the wishes of their ALP Left faction in recognising Palestine as a state.
The 2023 ALP national conference enshrined as an “important priority for the Australian government” two key commitments: recognising Palestine as a state and the “right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders”.
With Labor caucus dominated by Albanese’s Left faction following the government’s May 3 election landslide victory, pro-Israel Labor MPs and supporters knew the major shift was inevitable.
In what senior government figures describe as a global snowball effect, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and inability to maintain a ceasefire has galvanised a bloc of countries, which excludes Donald Trump’s US, to form a unity ticket that believes a separate Palestinian state would deliver “enduring peace” in the Middle East.
Wong on Friday repeated the lines she has used in recent months that the government no longer sees recognition as only occurring at the end of a peace process.
Wong, Albanese and Richard Marles have said they want a Palestinian state in which Hamas has no involvement.
Countries pursuing recognition of Palestine can hardly rely on the Palestinian Authority to oust murderous Hamas terrorists who butchered innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023. There is every chance that Hamas or a Hamas-backed group would rise as the dominant force inside a Palestinian state.
It will take other countries, including Britain, to follow Macron’s lead before Albanese changes Australia’s foreign policy settings. With Trump a staunch supporter of Israel and his administration refusing to participate in any French or UN-led push for Palestinian statehood, Albanese must manage the timing of any Palestine shift as he seeks his first in-person meeting with the US President.
Albanese will meet with Trump soon. Amid planning for a heavy schedule of international summits across the globe over the next five months, the pair could cross paths before the UN leaders’ week in New York in September.
Amid ongoing concerns around US tariffs, defence spending and AUKUS, Albanese must tread a careful path as he seeks from Trump positive outcomes for Australia.
Memo to Wong: When terrorists praise you, it’s bad
GEMMA TOGNINI
“Hamas welcomed the joint statement.”
As I read that line in various media outlets across Australia and the world this past week, there was a moment of disbelief. The statement Hamas was referring to was signed by Australia, among others, and called on Israel to end the war in Gaza.
Hamas, a terrorist death cult responsible for wholesale slaughter and unspeakable sexual violence, a group of ideological maniacs that doesn’t believe Jews have the right to exist, was looking at Australia and saying: bravo, Penny Wong, well played. If ever there were a statement that condemned Australia’s foreign policy position on the Middle East and exposed the shocking moral bankruptcy of the Albanese government, this was it: being praised by an organisation that our country and countless others have deemed a proscribed terrorist group.
Sometimes the important things get lost in the big statements.
The detail, if you will. Ending the war in Gaza? Everyone wants that.
But this statement infers Israel is to blame. The US described it as “disgusting”. The Israeli government called it “disconnected from reality”. Both assessments are true.
To be explicit here, it is right to call for an end to this war. Every sane person wants this. The problem lies with the implication in words that place the burden of responsibility entirely on Israel to end a war it didn’t start, never wanted and has been fighting alone for nearly two years.
It is a piece of political virtue signalling that ignores context and the basic facts, such as that there is a ceasefire deal on the table right now. A deal agreed to by Israel, brokered by the US and the Qataris.
Hamas again says no.
The same Hamas that paraded the semi-naked, broken and twisted body of German-Israeli woman Shani Louk through the streets of Gaza on October 7, 2023.
The same creatures of evil who ripped Ariel and Kfir Bibas and their mother Shiri from their home, then murdered the children with their bare hands and boasted about it.
The same demons who even the hopeless, Jew-hating UN has admitted conducted a brutal campaign of systemic sexual violence against the women slaughtered on October 7 and the hostages it took that day. Hostages. Remember them? There are 50 still being held.
Still. Only half are said to be alive.
A reminder: taking hostages is, of course, a war crime.
The Australian government, in signing this statement, has exposed itself as morally without compass and strategically deficient.
The signs have been there from October 7, 2023. Wong’s first response to the atrocities was to tell Israel to show restraint. Neither she nor Anthony Albanese has bothered to go to the site of the Nova massacre or to meet the released hostages. The Foreign Minister hung out on the West Bank and the Prime Minister prefers to hang out in China.
Among the cosignatories to the statement is the Canadian government.
Seven of its citizens were slaughtered on October 7. The French, unsurprisingly, signed this letter. The French who recently hosted former al-Qa’ida terrorist turned Syrian leader Ahmed al- Sharaa in an official capacity in May. Ah, the French. Seems like yesterday they were rolling out the red carpet for the ayatollahs after the fall of the shah of Iran. Everything old is new again.
More than 1000 Christians and Druze have been slaughtered in Syria in the past few weeks in a brutal episode of ethnic cleansing.
Witnesses have described the same horrifying brutality that played out in Israel on October 7.
And is it any wonder? Al-Qa’ida is Islamic State is Hamas, and they are playing the Western world like a two-buck recorder. Who has gone to the aid of the Syrian Druze? Not the UN but Israel.
What this government can’t seem to understand is that many things can be true in tension, and often are. When it comes to this war, this is absolutely the case, yet Albanese and Wong remain obsessed with Israel, with demonising the only democracy in the Middle East. So let me help them.
This war is terrible. There is tremendous suffering in Gaza among Palestinians who have only recently begun to demand an end to Hamas. These fledging uprisings have met with killings and brutal reprisals.
Yet again the Prime Minister shows how little connection he has with the reality on the ground. On Friday he said Israel was denying aid and killing children to seek access to water and food.
The Prime Minister does not acknowledge that Hamas has been weaponising the distribution of aid since the start. It’s a strategy.
Hamas has targeted and killed Gazans accessing aid via the USbacked Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and has threatened Gazans not to take food from this group.
The UN also has a vested interest in undermining the GHF. The non-government organisation sector relies heavily on aid funding.
After rejecting the ceasefire deal this week, Hamas then demanded full control over aid distribution.
The current proposal backed by Qatar, the US and Israel is for a split in aid distribution between the UN and the GHF. Hamas says no, it’s all or nothing.
At the time of writing, geoconfirmed images show hundreds of UN aid trucks sitting idle inside Gaza, aid undelivered. The GHF has offered to distribute the aid as a matter of urgency and it says the UN refused. Is there anything more sickening than politics? All of this matters. It’s detail that took me a little while to find but it’s not that hard. I’m one person.
The Foreign Minister presumably has a capable team that can read and research? This is the detail the Australian public deserves to know.
‘Turned inside out with disgust’: Australia must sanction Benjamin Netanyahu, Bob Carr urges
Former Labor foreign affairs minister says Canberra must seek to be a world leader – not wait for the US or UK – and recognise a Palestinian state
Josh Butler and Ben Doherty
The former Labor foreign affairs minister Bob Carr says the federal government should sanction the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and move quickly to recognise Palestinian statehood, saying it would send “a message that we are turned inside out with disgust by what appears the deliberate starvation” of Gaza.
Carr, the former New South Wales state premier and Labor elder, praised Anthony Albanese’s latest statement condemning Israel, which accused Netanyahu’s government of denying aid and killing civilians – including children – seeking water and food.
But Carr said Australia should seek to be a world leader in responding to the humanitarian disaster and follow the example of France in pledging to recognise a Palestinian state.
Palestinians hold on to an aid truck returning to Gaza City
Albanese says Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza ‘cannot be defended or ignored’ in strongest condemnation yet
“The PM’s instinct is right, but I reckon the Australian public wants him to push further and harder. Any notion in Dfat [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] that we should wait till the UK moves on recognition is just us being too supine,” Carr told Guardian Australia.
“We should move decisively, now the French have, and get credit in Asia and elsewhere for having a mind of our own, not just waiting for the UK – or, God help us, a signal from Washington.”
Carr’s call was echoed by Labor MP and former cabinet minister Ed Husic, who said: “The time is now.”
Albanese on Friday made his strongest condemnation yet of the starvation in Gaza, where international humanitarian organisations have pleaded for attention on starvation and malnutrition concerns.
At least 45 people have died of hunger in the past four days. The UN and aid groups blame Israel’s blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food.
But Albanese’s statement did not pledge any new actions or concrete responses.
Noting Australia had imposed travel bans and financial sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers in June, Carr suggested the government take similar action on Netanyahu.
“They need to sanction Netanyahu. He’s directing this operation … subjecting the civilian population to collective punishment, including mass starvation,” he said.
Amir Maimon, Israel’s ambassador to Australia, released a statement on Friday saying his country was “not only entitled but obligated under international law” to defend its citizens.
“To condemn Israel for defending itself is wrong. It deflects attention from the real perpetrators of this horror: Hamas,” Maimon wrote.
“The international community must stop equivocating and start acting. Pressure must be placed where it belongs, on Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for this war and the suffering it continues to inflict.”
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the withholding of vital food aid from Palestinian children was “indefensible”, describing the situation in Gaza as “beyond the world’s worst fears”.
In a press conference in Sydney alongside the defence minister, Richard Marles, and their British ministerial counterparts, Wong said: “Children are starving, civilians are dying.”
She said Australia would continue “to press for a ceasefire, for hostages to be released, for aid to flow and for international humanitarian law to be upheld”.
Wong said Australia remained committed to a two-state solution, and reiterated that Australia no longer saw Palestinian statehood “at the end of a peace process only”.
“It [a two-state solution] is ultimately the only hope of peace and breaking the cycle of violence and assuring the security and aspirations and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
Carr, the NSW premier from 1995 to 2005 and then federal foreign affairs minister from 2012 to 2013 in the Rudd and Gillard governments, said recognition of a Palestinian state had been Labor policy for many years.
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He noted that he had moved such a motion at the 2014 NSW Labor conference. Carr believed the move would have majority support in Australian society.
“Recognition sends a message that we are turned inside out with disgust by what appears the deliberate starvation of the nation, identified as drip feeding,” he said.
“I have not the faintest doubt it has majority support. People are coming up to me regularly and saying, ‘keep up what you’re doing on Palestine’. That’s unusual. The message has gotten out there.
“Israel is seen increasingly as a pariah, due to its sheer indifference of the suffering of babies and children.”
Carr said he believed the Labor party rank-and-file membership were “virtually unanimous on this”.
Husic told the ABC that Australia should recognise Palestinian statehood immediately.
“There will be a number of countries that will do so, and given our party has said we want to do this, it seems right that the time is now for us to step forward and say we will recognise the state of Palestine now,” he said.
Guardian Australia has reported on growing outrage in Labor’s membership ranks about the Gaza crisis.
The Labor Friends of Palestine, an internal pressure group, has written a motion calling for Australia to sanction the Israeli government, which has been adopted by 80 local branches, according to co-convener Peter Moss
“Labor members fought long and hard through the party’s democratic structures to establish in 2018 recognition as official policy that was to be delivered by the next Labor government,” Moss said.
“We call on the Australian government to implement official platform policy and immediately and unconditionally recognise a Palestinian state on the pre-4 June 1967 borders. There has never been a more urgent time to assert the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, dignity, safety, and equal rights.”
Labor sources say a similar motion may be debated at the Victorian state conference in August.
ABC sounds alarm over Gaza famine, saying its Palestinian freelancers now too weak to work
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2025/jul/25/abc-alarm-gaza-famine-palestinian-journalists-freelancers-weekly-beast-ntwnfb
Amanda Meade
International media denied access to Gaza rely on Palestinian freelancers, who are ill and exhausted. Plus: Henderson’s watchdog lives another day
Fri 25 Jul 2025 13.00 AEST
The Palestinian journalists and videographers working with Australia’s national broadcaster to bring us the stories from inside Gaza are hungry and weak, the ABC’s Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran said this week. One colleague “does not have the strength to hold a camera any more”, has lost 34kg and can hardly talk on the phone, Doran wrote.
“And it could seriously impact how we can tell the broader story of the Gaza war.”
The scenes of aid seekers scrambling for food, babies lying silently in hospital beds and Palestinians protesting against Hamas for prolonging the war would be impossible without these Palestinian freelancers, Doran warned.
The ABC correspondent was among some of the world’s biggest news outlets, including BBC News, Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press and Reuters who said they were “desperately concerned” about the journalists in Gaza after widespread warnings of mass starvation.
People wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza.
BBC, AFP and other news outlets warn journalists in Gaza at risk of starvation
With Israel denying international reporters access to Gaza, most of the world’s news outlets rely on Palestinian freelancers to inform the world, but hunger and lack of clean water is making them ill and exhausted, with some telling agencies they are too weak to work.
“One of the biggest and most important stories in the world … will soon be more difficult to tell, as our colleagues struggle to help us tell it,” Doran said.
Doran’s online analysis was accompanied by several broadcast reports on starvation on the 7pm bulletin across the week. “The ABC has worked with a variety of independent journalists in Gaza over the past two years, but in recent weeks that has become increasingly difficult as displacement and starvation make it harder for journalists in Gaza,” a spokesperson for ABC News told Weekly Beast.
Victoria Police powerless to lay charges over “Death to the IDF” chant
Police say they have no power to lay charges over the “Death to the IDF” chant being used at Melbourne pro-Palestine rallies, as officers brace for protest tensions to reach boiling point this weekend.
Mark Buttler and Olivia Jenkins
Police say they are powerless to lay charges over the “Death to the IDF” chant being used at Melbourne pro-Palestine protests.
The anti-Israeli Defence Force chant has become widespread in recent months at CBD demonstrations opposing the 21-month military action in Gaza.
A Victoria Police statement said independent advice had been received stating that the chant was not an offence under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act or the Crimes Act.
The statement said matters would now have to be considered on a case-by-case basis to determine whether it met the threshold for an offensive behaviour charge under the Summary Offences Act.
“We will now assess any past or future chants to determine if a prosecution would be successful against any individuals,” the statement said.
Former Victorian Governor Linda Dessau this week said chants like “Death to the IDF” should come under hate speech laws.
“I really think a stand needs to be taken,” Ms Dessau said in a podcast by broadcaster Neil Mitchell.
“In other instances, these things have been stopped right at the source and they should have been here, too.”
Those using the chant are aping punk-rappers Bob Vylan, who employed it at Britain’s huge Glastonbury music festival last month.
UK police later launched a criminal investigation of the performance.
It comes as police brace for protest tensions to reach boiling point this weekend, with several hundred additional officers understood to have been rostered to patrol a major pro-Palestine rally planned for Sunday.
Police sources told the Herald Sun that uniform members were anticipating potential counter protests by Zionist activists.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police would be patrolling Sunday’s protest.
“There will be a visible police presence to keep the peace and ensure community safety,” she said.
“Victoria Police respects the rights for individuals to protest however we ask that they do so peacefully.”
Up to 300 additional officers are believed to have been designated to patrol this weekend’s rally.
Pro-Palestine activists have staged weekly rallies since October 7 that have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to leave other Israeli-occupied territories such as the West Bank.
Pro-Israel groups, including Lions of Zion, have previously staged counter protests at pro-Palestine events, which have largely remained peaceful.
But earlier this month, “Death to the IDF” chants and signs, as well as depictions of the swastika were seen at a pro-Palestine rally in the CBD.
Police were then working to determine whether one sign depicting the swastika and its meanings in other cultures outside the western world was a criminal offence.
In 2023, it became illegal in Victoria to publicly display hate symbols such as the Nazi swastika.
Ceasefire talks collapse – what does that mean for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza?
Published: July 25, 2025 2.20pm AEST
Ali Mamouri
Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University
does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff says it would appear Hamas never wanted a deal:
While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people in Gaza
State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott reads Steve Witkoff’s statement on the collapse of the Gaza peace talks.
The disappointing development coincides with mounting fears of a widespread famine in Gaza and a historic decision by France to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
French President Emmanuel Macron says there is no alternative for the sake of security of the Middle East:
True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine
What will these developments mean for the conflict in Gaza and the broader security of the Middle East?
Help us share expert knowledge.
‘Humanitarian catastrophe’
The failure to reach a truce means there is no end in sight to the Israeli siege of Gaza which has devastated the territory for more than 21 months.
Amid mounting fears of mass starvation, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Gaza is in the grip of a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He is urging Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law:
Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.
According to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, more than 100 people – most of them children – have died of hunger. One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, with the number of cases rising every day.
A dark haired malnourished two year old boy sitting with other children
Two year old malnourished boy Yazam Abu Ful in a refugee camp in Gaza City. Jehad Alshrafi/AAP
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini says with little food aid entering Gaza, people are
neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses […] most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need.
The UN and more than 100 aid groups blame Israel’s blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food.
Lazzarini says UNRWA has 6,000 trucks of emergency supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt. He is urging Israel – which continues to blame Hamas for cases of malnutrition – to allow the humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Proposed ceasefire deal
The latest ceasefire proposal was reportedly close to being agreed by both parties.
It included a 60-day truce, during which time Hamas would release ten living Israeli hostages and the remains of 18 others. In exchange, Israel would release a number of Palestinian prisoners, and humanitarian aid to Gaza would be significantly increased.
During the ceasefire, both sides would engage in negotiations toward a lasting truce.
While specific details of the current sticking points remain unclear, previous statements from both parties suggest the disagreement centres on what would follow any temporary ceasefire.
Israel is reportedly seeking to maintain a permanent military presence in Gaza to allow for a rapid resumption of operations if needed. In contrast, Hamas is demanding a pathway toward a complete end to hostilities.
A lack of mutual trust has dramatically clouded the negotiations.
From Israel’s perspective, any ceasefire must not result in Hamas regaining control of Gaza, as this would allow the group to rebuild its power and potentially launch another cross-border attack.
However, Hamas has repeatedly said it is willing to hand over power to any other Palestinian group in pursuit of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. This could include the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which governs the West Bank and has long recognised Israel.
Support for a Palestinian state
Israeli leaders have occasionally paid lip service to a Palestinian state. But they have described such an entity as “less than a state” or a “state-minus” – a formulation that falls short of both Palestinian aspirations and international legal standards.
In response to the worsening humanitarian situation, some Western countries have moved to fully recognise a Palestinian state, viewing it as a step toward a permanent resolution of one of the longest-running conflicts in the Middle East.
Macron’s announcement France will officially recognise a full Palestinian state in September is a major development.
France is now the most prominent Western power to take this position. It follows more than 140 countries – including more than a dozen in Europe – that have already recognised statehood.
While largely symbolic, the move adds diplomatic pressure on Israel amid the ongoing war and aid crisis in Gaza.
However, the announcement was immediately condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who claimed recognition “rewards terror” and
risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not to live in peace beside it.
Annexing Gaza?
A Palestinian state is unacceptable to Israel.
Further evidence was recently presented in a revealing TV interview by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak who stated Netanyahu had deliberately empowered Hamas in order to block a two-state solution.
Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by other people
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says France has empowered terrorism by recognising a Palestinian state. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AAP
Instead there is mounting evidence Israel is seeking to annex the entirety of Palestinian land and relocate Palestinians to neighbouring countries
Given the current uncertainty, it appears unlikely a new ceasefire will be reached in the near future, especially as it remains unclear whether the US withdrawal from the negotiations was a genuine policy shift or merely a strategic negotiating tactic.