Two leading Israeli human rights groups accuse their country of committing genocide in Gaza
ABC | Matthew Doran | 29 July 2025
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-29/israeli-orgs-label-gaza-situation-genocide/105584184
- Two Israeli human rights organisations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, have labelled the country’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”.
- B’Tselem compiled testimony as well as details of mass killings, destruction of infrastructure, forced displacement, mass arrests and alleged abuse of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
- Israel has been conducting a military campaign in Gaza for the past 21 months, after Hamas militants entered Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
For the first time, two of Israel’s leading human rights organisations have labelled the country’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide”, demanding the international community step up pressure on the Netanyahu government to change course.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) released dual reports in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, detailing grave allegations against Israeli authorities during the 22-month-long war in Gaza.
While both organisations have been critical of the Israeli government and military in the past, their intervention adds further fuel to the international argument over whether, or when, Israel crossed the line from self-defence to total destruction in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Both organisations compiled testimony from Palestinians, as well as official statistics and data about the impact of the war in Gaza, to reach their conclusions.
B’Tselem’s report, titled Our Genocide, detailed the factors the organisation believed led to a charge of genocide against Israel.
They included mass killings, destruction of infrastructure, forced displacement, and mass arrests and alleged abuse of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
“The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write,” B’Tselem’s executive director Yuli Novak said.
“But in recent months, we have been witnessing a reality that has left us no choice but to acknowledge the truth.
“Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Ms Novak said Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and taking 250 hostages, were a “trigger” for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“October 7 was real. It was a real attack that was oriented mostly towards civilians. It was a criminal attack and, personally, I can say it was one of the most, or probably the most, frightening day of my life,” Ms Novak told the ABC.
“What it created … in Israel society is a sincere feeling of existential threat.
“That feeling, that collective trauma, was taken advantage of by a government.”
‘Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime’
While acknowledging the October 7 attacks, B’Tselem said the response from Israel could not be viewed in isolation.
“The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including in the Gaza Strip, must be understood in the context of more than seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on the Palestinians, taking its most extreme form against those living in the Gaza Strip,” the report stated.
Israel has repeatedly denied it is pursuing a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, accusing Hamas in turn of trying to wipe out the Jewish population in Israel.
Israeli authorities frequently refer to the war in Gaza as being against Hamas and not the Palestinian population.
But B’Tselem and PHRI disagreed, and argued the massive death toll, now approaching 60,000 according to Palestinian health authorities, and the scale of destruction on the ground were evidence that there was a broader plan.
Israel has rejected figures released by Gaza’s health authorities as Hamas propaganda, without providing any evidence for its claim and without publishing its own data on the number of dead and injured in the war.
Gaza health workers ‘acting heroically’
PHRI focused its inquiry on the destruction of Gaza’s health sector, describing a “deliberate and systemic dismantling” of the strip’s hospitals and health workforce over 22 months of war.
The organisation cited the frequent targeting of Gaza’s hospitals by Israeli forces, with evacuation and displacement orders issued throughout the war and direct attacks crippling their operations.
PHRI outlined damage to facilities including Al-Shifa, Al-Ahli, Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan, Nasser, the Indonesian, and the European hospitals as evidence of a concerted campaign.
“From the start, Israel portrayed hospitals as legitimate military targets, justifying attacks that would never be tolerated anywhere in the world,” PHRI’s executive director, Guy Shalev, said.
“Israel claimed Hamas used the hospitals for military purposes, but these claims were unverified and bore no relation to the comprehensive, absolute destruction of an entire system.
“Amid this horror, our colleagues and friends, the healthcare workers of Gaza, are acting heroically to save lives while they themselves are under direct attack.”
Dr Shalev said more than 1,500 healthcare workers had been killed, and 300 had been detained by Israeli forces.
“It is our duty to support them, ensure their protection, and insist on accountability and justice,” he argued.
Dr Shalev was asked whether he believed the tide of public opinion in Israel was turning — or, at the very least, there was a recognition amongst the population about the realities on the ground in Gaza.
“Yes, we’ve been seeing a change in the past few weeks — and I think that a lot is attributed to the reality being much worse on the ground in Gaza,” he replied.
“And the ability to deny it, the ability to not see it, I think, is just not so much possible for many of the Israelis watching the images coming out from Gaza.
“We always say better late than never — and everyone who is reckoning with what has been going on in the past almost two years and is willing to join us calling to stop it, doing whatever they can to stop, it is something that we of course support and we want to encourage, but also the past needs to be accounted for.”
The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the B’Tselem report, labelling it a “politically motivated document”.
“This so-called ‘advocacy’ group has long dedicated itself to vilifying Israel while covering up jihadist terror organisations such as Hamas,” a spokesperson said.
“The cynical use of the extreme term “genocide” was designed to provoke and draw the attention of the media and the public.
“Needless to say, such an accusation is obscene, baseless in both fact and law, and only emboldens Hamas, a jihadist terrorist group that openly and proudly committed horrific atrocities and massacres which are in themselves acts of genocide.”
The ministry said Israel “targets only Hamas and certainly not civilians”.
‘They called Gazans human animals’
One of the key elements of the crime of genocide, under international conventions, is the proof of intent.
Both B’Tselem and PHRI said there was a wealth of evidence, such as statements from political and military leaders, coupled with the scale of the devastation on the ground, which could prove intent.
“As much as this legal discussion is super important and is critical in order to bring perpetrators to justice, what we know from history is that the legal system, definitely the international legal system, works not in the time frame that is needed in order to stop a genocide,” Ms Novak said.
“Usually it gets to its conclusion way, way after the damage has already been done.
“In the first days of the attack, the highest political level in Israel — including the prime minister himself, the minister of defence, the president of Israel — stood out and told us, all of us, told the world and also their soldiers their intent.
“They marked the entire population of Gaza as responsible for Hamas’s attack.
“They called Gazans human animals.”
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No starvation in Gaza Israel insists, at odds with UN, aid groups
The Age (& SMH) | Matthew Knott | 29 July 2025
Israel’s embassy in Australia has declared there is no starvation in Gaza despite calls by world leaders for more aid to be allowed into the ravaged strip and reports of surging malnutrition levels among Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli embassy also rejected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s claim that Israel has breached international law in Gaza by curtailing food aid, insisting the nation has complied with its humanitarian obligations since the conflict began 21 months ago.
The intervention came as the Israeli military began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day and began airdrops to increase the supply of aid to Gazans.
Deputy Israeli ambassador Amir Meron told journalists in a briefing yesterday that claims of starvation amounted to Hamas propaganda and relied on “false pictures” presenting a distorted view of the situation in Gaza.
“We don’t recognise any famine or any starvation in the Gaza Strip,” Meron said. “This is a false campaign that is being [led] by Hamas, taking advantage of sick children in order to show a false claim and false presentation of hunger and starvation.
The remarks are starkly at odds with those of the UN, global aid organisations and world leaders including Albanese, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that the organisation is “witnessing a deadly surge in malnutrition-related deaths” in Gaza, with at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition.
Meron said that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and launched the shock October 7 attacks on Israel that led to an estimated 1200 deaths, was “deceiving the media, deceiving international organisations, the international community, and it is deceiving its own people”.
Referring to images of emaciated Palestinian children that have shocked people around the world, including Albanese, Meron said: “The picture that you see, we think these are false pictures.” Meron said food shortages in Gaza should be blamed on a lack of willingness by international aid organisations to de liver the aid and the theft of food and other supplies by Hamas militants.
He said the new measures announced by Israel, including pauses in the fighting, were “of course to tackle this false campaign that Hamas is running against Israel, the starvation campaign”.
“When the UN agencies are saying that there is no aid, we’re showing those pictures [and saying] look, there is aid, and it’s ready, and it’s you can take it now and bring it to the Gaza Strip into the population. Why aren’t you taking it?” he said.
The deputy ambassador’s comments echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier yesterday, who told the UN and other aid organisations: “Stop finding excuses, do what you have to do and stop accusing Israel deliberately of this egregious falsehood. There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza.”
Netanyahu has been charged by the International Criminal Court with using starvation as a weapon of war, a claim his office dismissed as false and antisemitic.
After French President Emmanuel Macron urged world leaders to recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly last week, Labor MP Basem Abdo used his first speech to parliament yesterday to subtly support Australian recognition of Palestine.
Abdo, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugees, described Palestinians as a “suffering people, a steadfast people”, adding that “international law matters, the international rules-based order matters. The right to peace, justice and recognition matters – deserving of a historic commitment,” he said.
More than 100 international aid organisations issued a joint statement last week saying “mass starvation” was spreading across Gaza, and that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”.
According to the WHO, there have been 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this year, with 63 occurring in July – including 24 children under five. The Australian government last week joined 27 nations to condemn “the drip-feeding of aid” by Israel, while Albanese said on Sunday that “quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March”.
Pressed on whether Albanese was wrong to say that Israel broke international law by halting all aid deliveries from March until May, Meron said: “What we’re saying is that Israel doesn’t breach … international humanitarian law in Gaza. There is enough aid in Gaza, and we are acting in different ways in order to bring more aid in Gaza. And the responsibility should be [placed] on Hamas, not on Israel.”
Albanese told parliament yesterday that Gaza is in “the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe” and that “Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended nor can it be ignored”.
“We have called upon Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law,” he said, adding that he also condemned Hamas.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Sky News: “I find the images incredibly distressing and the stories of aid not reaching the people where it’s needed incredibly distressing.”
Asked about Meron’s comments regarding “false pictures”, she said: “It’s clearly a very complicated situation on the ground.”
The war could end immediately if Hamas agreed to surrender and release all the remaining hostages, Ley added.
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma said there was “pretty over whelming” evidence of malnutrition and food shortages in Gaza but told the ABC: “I don’t believe Israel has stopped food from being delivered, or at least my understanding is that has not been the policy intent.”
According to the UN human rights office, more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food aid over the past two months, including more than 700 near one of the distribution centres run by the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office was contacted for comment.
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Israeli soldiers and generals turning their backs on Netanyahu over Gaza
The Age (& SMH) / The Telegraph | Henry Bodkin & Adrian Blomfield | 29 July 2025
Ron Feiner looks philosophical as he points to where the bullet struck the side of his helmet, knocking him off his feet. Just a few millimetres difference and he would have been killed, like six of his comrades were when they walked into a house in southern Lebanon in October, believing – wrongly that it had already been checked for terrorists.
“It was a really horrible day,” the 26-year-old recalled. “They opened the door, and behind the door were two Hezbollah fighters who immediately started firing with their rifles. Four soldiers died immediately.”
Feiner, a captain in Israel’s 933rd Nahal Brigade, acquitted himself well, picking himself up and dragging wounded colleagues to safety as the battle raged for five hours. It was his destiny, having dreamt of becoming, like his father, an infantry officer for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) since he was a child.
It is a role that carries elite status in Israel and has been the foundation been building on Israel over the dire humanitarian conditions inside the strip, with aid agencies warning of mass malnutrition and widespread hunger. stone for many a stellar business or political career.
But he has now chosen a different path. He is refusing to report for another stint of reserve duty and a potential deployment to Gaza, in disgust at the ongoing war that has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
He said: “When the bombing of Gaza started again, it became clear to me that our government wants to make this war as long as they can – they don’t want to end it. “I knew then I can’t go back to serving in this war.”
Sentenced to 25 days in jail by Israel for refusing to serve, Feiner is believed to be part of a growing wave of young Israeli reservists who feel they can no longer participate in their country’s war in Gaza. The majority are not showing up to call-ups, either “forgetting” to check their emails or pleading medical or family emergencies.
Feiner believes the images of starving children inside Gaza will mean fewer soldiers will turn up. Immense global pressure has France on Thursday said it would move to recognise Palestine as a state.
On Sunday, the IDF said it was introducing a “tactical pause” in fighting in some areas of Gaza. Feiner’s opinion on the futility of the conflict appears to be shared by a rising number of serving and retired senior officers who are turning against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war.
General Assaf Orion, the former head of strategic planning at the IDF, said while there were clear strategic goals in the Israel campaigns against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, there was no longer any clear military imperative for the continuation of military operations in Gaza.
He told London’s Telegraph: “In Gaza, I suspect that the strategic train of ends, ways and means was kidnapped by ulterior motives. I think the main reason for a prolonged war in Gaza is political expediency.”
Eran Etzion, a former deputy head of Israel’s national security council, was even more blunt. “By now it has long been clear to most Israelis that the main reason the Gaza campaign lingers on is because of Netanyahu’s political, personal and judicial interests, and he needs the war to go on in order to sustain and even enhance his grip on power,” Etzion said.
Many believe Netanyahu fears his government would col lapse if the war ended, as ultra nationalist parties in his coalition would abandon him. “That’s the main reason. It has nothing to do with Hamas and everything to do with Netanyahu,” Etzion said.
If even some of the spate of leaks from Israel’s security cabinet are to be believed, the scepticism is not confined to retired generals. Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, is said to have argued that there is little more to be gained by continuing the campaign – particularly without risking the lives of the approximately 20 remaining living hostages who were abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Although degraded into a series of, in effect, independent guerrilla units, Hamas continues to fight amid the rubble, sending a stream of IDF body bags back to Israel. Netanyahu insists that Hamas must not just be broken as a military and governing force, but eradicated entirely, and also argues the best way to secure a hostage deal is to fight even harder.
Israel’s negotiating team re turned home from Doha empty handed at the weekend, amid widespread pessimism that a deal will be agreed any time soon. The Jewish state’s reputation on the international stage is in crisis, with traditional allies such as Britain, France, Canada and Australia queuing up to condemn the escalating reports of starvation.
Professional servants of democratically elected leaders, such as Zamir and those under him, are caught in the middle. This was perhaps best demonstrated this month by Zamir’s opposition to a scheme of Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz to order the entire civilian population of Gaza into a so called “humanitarian city” built on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah.
The military chief was reportedly anxious to protect his officers from potential complicity in a war crime, amid outrage that the zone – described by former prime minister Ehud Olmert as resembling a “concentration camp” – could be a precursor to forced population transfer.
It would also put his troops, who would ultimately police the perimeter and facilitate the entry of aid, under significant practical pressure. The military was further worried that Hamas would interpret the humanitarian city as a signal that Israel wanted to restart fighting after the proposed initial 60-day ceasefire, thus threatening a potential deal on the hostages.
The IDF leadership earned Netanyahu’s ire by reporting the project to build a city on Rafah’s outskirts could take a year and cost $US4 billion ($6 billion). While the Israeli prime minister demanded a “shorter, cheaper, more practical” plan, it is not clear whether the initiative will ever take place.
The scheme may have been too much for Israeli generals who are already deeply unhappy about the position their troops have been placed in under the new US-backed aid system. The United Nations accuses the IDF of killing more than 1000 civilians near the new aid distribution sites in Gaza.
According to multiple videos and eyewitness testimony, crowd flow in and near these sites is extremely poor, and Israeli soldiers, who provide an outer ring of security for the American contractors, open fire if Palestinians come too close. In one heated security cabinet exchange, Zamir reportedly forced an ultra-nationalist minister to watch a video of an incident showing how close aid seekers came to his soldiers.
The IDF has now captured 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip – the goal when it began Operation Gideon’s Chariot, which started in May Last week, it pushed into the town of Deir Al-Balah, the first time it is thought Israeli troops have deliberately sought to seize an area where intelligence indicated there is a high likelihood that hostages are being held. Netanyahu and his allies argue that leaving even remnants of Hamas intact in the strip would eventually precipitate another October 7-style massacre.
They have so far rejected Arab proposals for an interim government to administer the enclave in the event of a permanent ceasefire. Orion, the former head of strategic planning at the IDF, said: “The Gaza war is a long way past its culmination point. Every military operation, like many human endeavours, has the rule of diminishing returns. “At some point, great successes meet growing resistance and lose their efficiency. The costs rise and the benefits are lower. In Gaza, we are way past that point.”
Although the true figures are closely guarded, some campaign groups and politicians believe the rate of attendance among Israeli reservists could be as low as 60 per cent. The majority of refusals are so-called “grey refusals” – people who plead medical problems, family issues or who simply go abroad during the call-up window and “forget” to check their emails.
At the same time, the acrimonious issue of Haredi con scription rumbles on, with Netanyahu expected to give in on promises to force ultra-orthodox Jewish young men to turn up for military service.
Feiner’s prison sentence was considered a relatively harsh penalty for refusal, given the maximum is 30 days. But he served only one night, as the prison was largely evacuated when Iran started firing ballistic missiles at Israel in June.
Waiting to see if he will be re called to jail, he believes the pictures and videos of what’s happening in Gaza will further decrease the rate of call-up response. “There are always a lot of people who are not sure if they are willing to go, and every little thing can affect them,” he said. “Maybe if they are sitting with their family on a Saturday evening watching the news and see the pictures and the video of what’s happening, they will decide they can’t.”
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Vilifying art-lovers at the NGV a step too far
The Age | Letters (1) | 29 July 2025
Exiting the NGV on Sunday, I was confronted by women protesting. My first instinct was to think they are women like me. As a teacher and Christian leader I’ve worked for peace, justice and reconciliation in education, churches and communities creating meaningful ways of offering hopeful transformation. I am a protester. But my instinct was wrong about these women as I don’t target individuals and vilify them as they did to hundreds of us.
A woman with the mega phone claimed “anyone entering the NGV was ensuring the NGV thinks it’s OK to hang out with fascists. You have blood on your hands and you support Zionism.” She then got personal to one woman saying “you in the hat, you are supporting genocide entering the NGV”. I was collecting my bike nearby and foolishly engaged suggesting we can protest but it’s wrong to target individuals as perpetrators of genocide. She then directed the megaphone at me chanting “you support genocide”.
She’s right; we are all complicit in systemic and collective sins of commission and omission. But broad scale public vilification is not protest. It polarises, shuts down empathy and divides us further.
Sally Apokis, South Melbourne
Albanese should offer more than a gesture
Anthony Albanese is correct in that the government should not recognise Palestine as a gesture only. He should do it as a commitment to the people of Palestine (“‘We won’t make a decision as a gesture’: Albanese says no imminent move to recognise Palestine”, 28/7). At the moment Albanese is gesturing, not acting. He is unprepared to take a bold stand, whether it be to recognise Palestine or sanction Israel for its blatant crimes. While acknowledging the heartbreak of seeing children starve, he makes no mention of genocide or ethnic cleansing. It’s time he be a true leader.
Lorel Thomas, Blackburn South
Australia must act
Sadly it appears the world’s leaders are deaf and blind to what has been happening in Gaza. And as Sean Kelly noted (“Mere words won’t pass our moral test”, 28/7) only two months after the horrific Hamas attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023, already 93 per cent of people were in phases 3, 4 or 5 of food insecurity. In May UN experts noted that “while States debate terminology — is it or is it not genocide? — Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza, through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and massacring the surviving population with impunity”. When will the Australian government take action? It’s time we say to the US and the UK that we will not proceed with AUKUS unless arms supplies to Israel stop. Where is the power of leaders if they take no action to stop this carnage in Gaza?
Peta Colebatch, Hawthorn
Blame not so simple
Regarding Sean Kelly, the Geneva Conventions allow the blocking of aid if the enemy is stealing or using it. Kelly cites a New York Times story denying Hamas is doing so, but a Washington Post report set out in detail, citing many witnesses including Gazans, how Hamas is in financial crisis because Israel has stopped it taxing aid, or stealing and selling it. Kelly writes about famine starting within months of the war beginning, but those warnings were retracted by the Famine Early Warning System, a US funded monitoring group
The UN is also culpable. After ending its nine-week blockade in May, after having allowed enough aid into Gaza to last for some months, Israel not only facilitated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has distributed around 95 million meals, but also resumed UN access. However, there were recently 900 truckloads of aid inside Gaza checkpoints the UN hadn’t collected. As for the suggestion of recognising a Palestinian state, only Palestinian Authority intransigence has prevented such a state. Hamas would say recognition only happened because of the October 7 atrocities. Recognition would simply encourage further Palestinian rejectionism and terrorism.
Jamie Hyams, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council
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Statehood for Palestine
The Age | Letters (2) | 29 July 2025
Statehood for Palestine
The people of the world claiming statehood for Palestine are living in a world of delusion. There are so many questions that still need to be asked. Some of these are: What are the geographical boundaries that define this state called Palestine? Who are the citizens of Palestine and who makes the decisions as to who becomes a citizen? What are the institutions that govern this state called Palestine? Are Jews allowed to be citizens of this new state called Palestine? These are only a few of the questions that need to be considered. No leader nor a member of the lobby groups that are advocating for statehood have made proposals that define this state. It’s disingenuous on all people wishing for a state called Palestine because it’s a false hood. The people who are most vulnerable and exploited are once again being led up a path of others making.
Graham Haupt, Glen Waverley
Revert to 1947 borders
Yes, as several correspondents to this page have stated, there are other serious human massacres also occurring, right now, in Yemen, and in Sudan. The difference is that those wars are not openly supported by a vocal and prominent segment of Australians, or accepted by Australian governments. Injustice for the people of Gaza stings our collective con science. Here, and around the world. The only fair and long-term solution is to formally recognise those 1947 UN borders and al low the two states to exist as equals — with equal rights to exist, and also equal rights to have the military capability to defend themselves.
Geoffre McNaughton, Glen Huntly
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Middle East
The Age | And another thing | 29 July 2025
“A one-year-old boy is not a Hamas fighter,” the prime minister says (“Albanese says no imminent move to recognise Palestine”, 28/7). True, but the Israeli government and IDF are doing their best to ensure he follows in their footsteps.
Brian Marshall, Ashburton
Imagine the outcry if a class room of children were being killed every day in Australia. That is what is happening in Gaza and it’s not being carried out by Hamas.
Paul Chivers, Box Hill North
Many seem to forget that the 1948 resolution supported a two-state solution. Look how well that went. Recognising a Palestinian state, without protections to make it viable, will only repeat the mistakes of history. Albanese and Wong appear to understand this.
Frank Jones, Melbourne
I keep thinking of a survivor of Pol Pot’s regime saying they kept waiting for the world to come but no one came. We can not once again ignore another man-made humanitarian catastrophe.
Charlotte Brewer, Shepparton
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Aid to Gazans has been co-opted and weaponised
Sydney Morning Herald | Letters | 29 July 2025
Sean Kelly says the “unsayable” —the Israeli government is starving Gazans (“The moral test for Labor has shifted on Gaza: Words are not enough”, July 28.). In March 2025, Israel prohibited the delivery of aid to Gazans by independent organisations such as the UN, replacing it with the Israeli-appointed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which provides aid sporadically. Netanyahu insists that Hamas was looting independent deliveries. No evidence has ever been revealed of this. On the contrary, facts indicate that, until March, enough aid was getting through to prevent starvation. Since then, the GHF has failed to provide adequately for Gazans. Even the American head of GHF, Jake Wood, has resigned because the aid plan failed to uphold the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality. He acknowledged that he witnessed innocent Gazans being fired upon while seeking aid. Netanyahu argues that Hamas must be defeated before aid can flow freely. He also vowed to “defeat” Hamas in 2014. How much longer must starving Gazans wait?
Nell Knight, Avoca Beach
It was with some distress that I saw reports of the opposition’s Dan Tehan pulling the “where are the facts?” card on Gaza. Is this the blood-stained hill the Liberal Party wish to take a stand on? Politics so often sweeps real human choices under the rug, saying “that’s politics”, or “someone needs to make the tough decisions”, divesting themselves of any real choice in the matter. The tough decision would have been to support the government to help find a solution whereby civilians do not get slaughtered, and preventing the creation of a new generation of vengeance fuelled agents of change. A moral party should be helping disclose the facts with the government. Stop treating politics like a two-team football league. Be a team player for the country and a better world instead.
James Cottam, Enmore
I think Premier Chris Minns needs to read the room better (“Pro-Palestine demonstration across Sydney Harbour Bridge to be blocked”, July 28). The Harbour Bridge carrying tens of thousands protesting the starvation in Gaza would send a powerful image about Australians’ attitudes about the current situation to the world. It would have far more impact than the words of politicians. What’s the point of having such iconic locations that are immediately identifiable without being able to leverage them?
Dale Bailey, St Leonards
The opposition’s insistence that criticism of Israel’s government be muted because it’s all Hamas’ fault sounds a lot like support for the infamous domestic violence excuse: “Look what you made me do.”
Tom Mangan, Woy Woy
Hamas is not forcing Israel to use the tactics being employed it is Israel’s policy. Israel has never in reality “targeted” Hamas. Witness the fact that the “war” is still going after 21 months, which may well be the intention.
John Christie, Oatley
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Pro-Palestine activists plan to defy bridge ban
The Australian | James Dowling | 29 July 2025
Pro-Palestine activists barred from marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge by NSW Premier Chris Minns plan to defy any orders should negotiations with the state government and NSW police fall through.
Mr Minns said on Monday that he would block and divert any planned protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge, after the Palestine Action Group announced it had requested the state government divert traffic to allow the “March for Humanity” on Sunday, August 3, in protest against “the horrific suffering in Gaza”.
Mr Minns said the NSW government “cannot support a protest of this scale and nature taking place on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, especially with one week’s notice”.
“The bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city – used every day by thousands of people,” he said.
“Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience, but real public safety concerns. We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos. NSW police are in discussions with organisers about other routes they can take and are working to ensure community safety is upheld.”
But Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees told The Australian the march would seek to go ahead regardless, although he did not want to pre-empt the negotiations with police.
“Thankfully, it’s not all up to the Premier to decide if the people of NSW can protest,” he said.
Asked if protesters would march if negotiations failed, he said: “Yes, but it’s premature to discuss that. We still haven’t heard from the police.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chair Alex Ryvchin said the protest would be “sullying another Australian icon” and urged the state government to stand firm. “These very sorts of protests brought such shame and disgrace to our city at the foot of one of our other iconic landmarks not so long ago,” Mr Ryvchin said.
“These protesters disgraced our country at the Opera House and dealt a blow to Australian decency from which we’re still reeling. The Premier is right to stop them from sullying another Australian icon.
“The last thing we need is another spectacle like that.
“We’ve seen the tenor, the mood, the slogans of these protests become progressively more aggressive, more vitriolic, more hateful and more unlawful in many cases. So with this plan to take place here on our Harbour Bridge, there’s every chance that things will escalate further.
“This is one of our most iconic landmarks. It’s the beating heart of our city. We don’t need it sullied with this extremism that’s been ripping our society apart.
“Australians are sick of the cost, the disruptions and the extremism that come from these protests. This is the time to enforce our laws and ensure our city is open to everyone.”
Mr Lees said in an earlier statement that the Harbour Bridge was Australia’s “most iconic symbol” and allowing marchers to cross it would “send a powerful message to the world, to Gaza, and to Israel that we are determined to stand up for humanity”.
He invited Anthony Albanese to participate. Following Mr Minns’ intervention, Mr Lees questioned whether safety was falsely being cited as a reason to block the protest.
“The Premier warns of chaos, but there is nothing chaotic about people marching for peace, to stop mass starvation. We call on the NSW authorities to work with us to plan this event and stand on the right side of history,” he said.
“The horrific suffering in Gaza is urgent and unprecedented, demanding an unprecedented response from the international community. That is why we have called for an urgent March for Humanity, to save Gaza, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Sunday. If the Premier says we need more time to plan such an event, then would he agree to support the March for Humanity a week later? Or is this a disingenuous concern?”
He argued past closures such as one for a World Pride march in 2023 bolstered their case for a protest, pointing to an exemptions given to Universal Studios for filming of its Sydney-based feature film Fall Guy as precedent.
Mr Lees is leading a constitutional challenge against the state’s anti-protest laws passed in February, which gave police broader powers to block protests held near places of worship.
The protest comes after the Prime Minister gave his strongest rebuke of Israel to date, albeit while backing away from recognising Palestine statehood in the “immediate future”.
Mr Albanese on Sunday accused Israel of breaching international law by standing in the way of aid supplies being delivered to Palestinians.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson came out in support of the march, saying her party would “do everything we can to protect this protest from Labor Premier Chris Minns and any attempts by the NSW Police Force to stop it”.
Independent MP Mark Latham said he “might just walk across the bridge” if able and argued it was “a march for free speech” following the introduction of the anti-protest laws.
“Bob Carr saw it first: the dictatorial suppression of free speech, fairness and humanity by the Jewish lobby,” he said on social media.
“From the start I said people should not bring their Middle Eastern grievances to Australia.
“But after Chris Minns sucked up to the powerful Jewish lobby and legislated under false pretences – Dural caravan – to stop protests, this march is in large part a march for free speech.”
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Anti-semitism ‘spills over’ into empowering hate attacks on Hindus
The Australian | Helen Trinca | 29 July 2025
A failure to combat anti-Semitism has empowered racists to attack Australia’s Indian population, according to the national vice-president of the Hindu Council of Australia, Surinder Jain.
He said the recent graffiti painted on a Hindu temple and two nearby Asian shops in the outer Melbourne suburb of Boronia underlined the need for the federal government to establish an envoy for Hindus.
“The problem with Hindu hate is that there’s no mechanism for the government to take it up,” Mr Jain told The Australian.
“There is hate against Muslims and there’s hate against Jews, but the government has appointed envoys, so when there’s any problem, they can talk to the envoy, and envoys can suggest (strategies) to government, as the Jewish envoy has done. But there’s nothing for Hindus – and we face a large amount of hate.”
In the July 13 attacks in Boronia, anti-Indian graffiti and an image of Hitler were painted on the walls of the Swaminarayan temple, with similar graffiiti on the shops.
Mr Jain said there had been an increase in racism against minorities in Australia: “I think part of that is because there was an increase in racism against Jews, and the steps taken were ineffective. Those who are spreading the hate probably feel ‘we can get away with it … we can target these other people also, who belong to the same kind of group, whom we don’t want’.”
The HCA has been lobbying the federal government since before the federal election for an envoy to combat “Hinduphobia” along the lines of the envoys on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but on Monday Mr Jain said there had been no formal response.
“In informal discussions they are basically saying ‘Where will it stop? We’ll have a Hindu envoy, then the Sikhs will want an envoy’,” Mr Jain said.
“(I think) it’s good to have envoys for Jews and Muslims but Hindus are also facing hate. There’s no reason to deny the same access to them that’s been given to the other two faiths. The government has shown that having envoys for specific faiths is the way they want to go, so that’s the way it should be done.”
He said the growing racism was directed at Indians but 80 per cent of Indians in Australia were Hindus, who were increasingly visible.
Forty years ago when he arrived in Australia, Mr Jain said, there were very few temples. “Hindus were not visible, except perhaps at workplaces in the IT department,” he said. “Now, with so many Hindus, so many temples, so many festivals being celebrated, we are more visible and the kind of hate we are seeing now is probably at its highest level in 40 years.”
The council’s national president, Sai Paravastu, said it had told the government it needed a point of contact to “get these things raised, discussed and resolved”.
An increase in vandalism and theft at temples was “instilling fear in youngsters” and people were becoming scared to go to temple: “It’s just not stopping.There have been rogue incidents of people bullying or abusing and commenting absurdly – that’s a common thing which is happening, and there’s no proper register, there’s no proper interface. Sometimes people are not bothered to report it because they think ‘Oh, nothing’s happening (to combat it)’ .”
Mr Paravastu said while Australians were happy to enjoy Indian temples and food and festivals, “when the same community reaches out to them, saying Oh, we’re in trouble – no response.”
Mr Paravastu wrote last Friday to Anthony Albanese urging the appointment of an envy, noting “escalating incidents of vandalism, targeted attacks and community intimidation directed at Hindu temples, families and the broader diaspora across Australia. The growing frequency and organised nature of these incidents have caused significant fear, emotional trauma, and a loss of confidence within the Hindu community.
“We are also concerned that mainstream Australian media has remained largely silent on these repeated hate incidents. Selective coverage not only denies the Hindu community fair representation but also emboldens those spreading hate.”
The letter argued that a Hindu envoy would provide formal liaison between the Hindu community and government agencies; a culturally informed advisory channel for law enforcement and policymakers; and active reinforcement of the principles of multicultural harmony and religious freedom.”
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Images of starving children ‘false’
Israeli envoy claims Hamas is deceiving the world
The Australian | Ben Packham & Geoff Chambers | 29 July 2025
Israel’s No. 2 diplomat in Australia says there is no starvation in Gaza and that images of emaciated children in the Palestinian enclave are part of a “false campaign” by Hamas.
Rejecting mounting reports that famine is sweeping the territory, Israel’s deputy ambassador, Amir Meron, said Hamas was “deceiving the media, deceiving international organisations, the international community, and it is deceiving its own people”.
“The picture that you see, we think these are false pictures,” he said.
“There is no starvation in the Gaza Strip. This is a false campaign as we see it. A false campaign from the Hamas side to have those photos being published … to bring a false negative story to the world.”
Images from Gaza in recent days have sparked international condemnation, including from Anthony Albanese, who accused Israel of killing civilians by illegally withholding humanitarian aid.
Mr Meron denied Israel was failing to meet its international obligations, accusing international aid organisations of refusing to deliver aid and of stealing supplies.
“The aid is ready. It’s ready to be given to the population. They just need to come and get it,” he said.
His comments followed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared earlier: “There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation Gaza.”
The Prime Minister was unmoved by the claims, savaging the Jewish state in parliament for the “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza. “Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended nor can it be ignored,” Mr Albanese said.
He said he shared the distress of those across the world at the image of a starving one-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, published globally in recent days. “He is not a threat to the state of Israel, nor is he someone who can be seen to be a fighter for Hamas,” he said.
“He’s a young child who deserves to be treated appropriately. And the position of the Australian government is very clear, that every innocent life matters. Every Israeli and every Palestinian.
“This conflict has stolen far too many innocent lives, tens of thousands of civilians are dead, children are starving.”
Amid the claims from Israel that photos from Gaza have been doctored, CNN has reported that the boy’s mother has said he had a pre-existing muscular disorder.
There has since been claims from pro-Israeli journalist David Collier that he has cerebral palsy and other diseases that affect his appearance.
Mr Albanese demanded Israel comply with its obligations under international law but reiterated he would not rush to recognise a Palestinian state, as France had declared it would do in September.
“It must be more than a gesture,” he said. “It must be something that’s a part of moving forward.
“We obviously are in discussions with other countries as well, going forward.”
His comments came as Victorian ALP members prepared motions demanding the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state and sanctions on Israel, to be moved at the party’s state conference this weekend.
Labor is considering recognition of Palestine, after Foreign Minister Penny Wong flagged last year that Australia could do so ahead of a formal peace process.
Former NSW premier and Labor foreign minister Bob Carr on Monday compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of the Nazis.
“The use of famine as a weapon of state policies is precisely and absolutely what Israel has been doing,” Mr Carr said.
“It would be hard to distinguish between the pinched despairing faces of childhood victims in the Warsaw ghetto and those we are seeing out of Gaza.”
Labor Friends of Israel co-convener Nick Dyrenfurth said he was “gravely concerned with the Netanyahu government’s actions in Gaza” but condemned Mr Carr’s provocative comments.
“Mr Carr is wilfully lying and deliberately stoking community tensions with extremist language and deliberately provoking his former friends in Australia’s Jewish community with Nazi slurs,” he said.
“War is an awful thing, but there is no genocide taking place.”
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Vandals unleash on shipping giant for alleged ties to Israel
The Australian | Ryan Bourke | 29 July 2025
An Anti-Israel Instagram account has posted a series of vlog-style videos revealing a wave of attacks over the past two weeks on properties owned by global shipping giant Toll.
It comes after Toll became the latest target of Melbourne’s Pro-Palestine movement for its alleged role in transporting ammunitions to Israel.
In the first of three videos posted to Instagram account @forautonomydestroyaustralia, a first-person perspective video shows vandals approaching the Toll headquarters on St Kilda Road in inner Melbourne while saying “Peace be upon Gaza, its battlefields, its heroes.”
Multiple figures are then shown sprinting towards the property before dousing its front windows in red paint and smashing a revolving glass door in an attack believed to have taken place in the early hours of July 15.
A second video uploaded by the same account and seemingly shot on the morning of July 20 shows vandals attacking the Toll Global Forwarding Centre in Broadmeadows, in the city’s north.
While the poorly lit video reveals little, its caption claims “The facility was attacked with graffiti and sprayed with red paint”.
“Its windows were hit and internet pits sabotaged.”
The account then posted a third video from July 22 in which masked vandals again vandalise a third Toll facility, which appears to be the company’s site in Campbellfield, with windows shown being smashed and the word “genocide” scribed across the building’s facade with spray paint.
A spokeswoman from Victoria Police said “Police are investigating a number of incidents of criminal damage at businesses across Melbourne between 18 and 22 July this year. Investigators believe at least three incidents in Melbourne, Westmeadows and Campbellfield are linked.”
The spokeswoman also said police had not ruled out whether the same offenders were behind previous attacks on weapons manufacturer Lovitt Technologies in Greensborough, which was also filmed and posted for the first time by the same Instagram account.
That account also posted the first known version of a clip that circulated earlier in the month of masked activists threatening further attacks on the Lovitt site and demonstrating how to manufacture a rudimentary firebombing device. The Instagram account claims all videos posted are submitted anonymously through an encrypted upload portal linked in the account’s biography, although all the videos share similar graphics and appear to use the same voice altering software.
“Police are also looking at whether the incidents are related to any other recent incidents of criminal damage, including an incident at a Greensborough business earlier in July,” the spokeswoman said.
“At this time, no one has been arrested and the investigation remains ongoing.”
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Truckloads of aid pouring into Gaza: Israel
The Australian / The Times | Richard Spencer | 29 July 2025
After challenging the UN to carry out its pledge to deliver more food to the starving people of Gaza, Israel said on Monday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a partial pause in fighting.
On Sunday, Israel declared a “tactical” pause in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid, urging humanitarian groups to step up food distribution.
“Over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organisations,” COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry agency overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said in a post on X on Monday.
After two months of restricting UN aid convoys in favour of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israel Defence Forces said they were implementing new “humanitarian pauses” in fighting to allow in more UN aid. They stopped daytime military operations in three locations: Gaza city, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi.
In addition they set up “secure routes to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip”.
They also allowed three Jordanian and Emirati supply planes to drop aid supplies into the strip, though the quantity delivered, 25 tonnes, is a fraction of what the UN can deliver on the ground.
The World Food Program said it distributed 4200 tonnes of food last week, even before Israel eased restrictions. Israel also staged its own air drops.
Israeli ministers have alternated between denying the existence of famine conditions in Gaza, despite the mounting numbers of images of emaciated children, and blaming Hamas.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an ambiguous interpretation of whether the aid reversal amounted to a concession to international pressure, including from Britain and other Western governments.
“Whichever path we choose, we will have to continue to allow the entry of minimal humanitarian supplies,” he said.
Speaking from the Ramon air base in the Negev desert, the Prime Minister added: “There are secured convoys. There have been all along, but today it is official. There will be no more excuses.”
In line with warnings from aid officials, the first convoys seen to enter Gaza under the new regimen, including from Egypt for the first time in months, were mobbed by desperate crowds.
Apart from the aid situation, the prospect of a ceasefire will be high on the agenda when US President Donald Trump meets British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, local time, especially after the announcement by President Macron of France on Friday that he intended to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Sir Keir has so far resisted pressure to follow suit but ministers were keen to show they were paying attention to growing concern about Gaza by focusing on aid.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy reiterated promises to join the Israeli air drop scheme but also insisted that ground convoys were the only way to get enough food into Gaza to feed its people.
“Access to aid must be urgently accelerated over the coming hours and days,” he said.
“While airdrops will help to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid into Gaza. These measures must be fully implemented and further barriers removed. The world is watching.”
Although aid agencies say that only a ceasefire will allow Gaza to obtain all the aid it needs, they welcomed the easing of restrictions.
“We have enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for almost three months,” the World Food Program said. “These new commitments to improve operating conditions come on top of earlier assurances from Israel to strengthen facilitation of humanitarian assistance.”
UN emergency relief co-ordinator Tom Fletcher said aid restrictions appeared to have eased by Sunday evening.
He warned in a statement, however, that “sustained action” was needed to “stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis”.
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Does the IDF’s concession on aid make a ceasefire any more likely?
The Australian / The Times | Richard Spencer | 29 July 2025
No one expected the war to last this long, for all the horror of October 7, 2023.
There were questions about what would come after the massacre, when Israel had finished pummelling Hamas and Gaza’s cities, as it had done in previous rounds of conflict since the militant group took over the territory in 2006.
That “day after” was also sure to look very different, given the loss of 1200 lives and abduction of more than 200 hostages. But most assumed it would involve some new arrangement of the perennial face-off between an ever more implacable Israel and the Iran-led “axis of resistance”.
In fact, the war has rumbled on, the “resistance” has been emasculated and most of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Yet Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not stop until Hamas is eliminated, an outcome few believe is imminent.
When US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he promised peace under the aegis of what he refers to as his legendary deal-making. There was indeed a 60-day truce but it did not last.
Now there is the starvation crisis, Israel’s about-turn to allow aid into Gaza and Trump’s visit to Britain. On the eve of his arrival, even that spotlight was stolen by President Emmanuel Macron, who promised France would recognise Palestinian statehood.
Is this, then, the moment in which Athena’s lot shifts from war to peace?
Macron’s intervention and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s vaguer promises are not insignificant. And just think of the children, says everyone.
Political pressure on Britain and France is always greater than that placed on other countries because of their historical roles in the Middle East, their large minorities of Muslim citizens and their power to use vetoes on the UN security council.
Nor is Trump unsympathetic – his voice is the only decisive one outside the zone of combat. He slapped down Macron, as is customary, but even he has expressed concern at the horrific images coming out of Gaza.
There is a ceasefire process just waiting for men of goodwill to make it a reality. Both sides say they want to take the step but only if the other moves in the right direction. Much depends on what lies behind last week’s walkouts by the Israeli and US delegations on the ceasefire talks hosted in Doha.
Netanyahu and Trump said Hamas’s demands were so unrealistic the talks could not continue. Qatar and Egypt, the Arab mediators, said the differences between the sides were narrowing. Arguments over the definition of starvation may dominate the discourse but its images are what the world is seeing. The bigger issue of stopping the mass killing of Palestinian civilians is in danger of being lost.
On Monday, Trump and Starmer were meet face to face. Both want a ceasefire in Gaza. But can they steer the people who matter in the direction of peace?
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Premature state no help to Gaza
In contrast to Bob Carr’s hysterics, the PM is showing leadership
The Australian | Editorial | 29 July 2025
Former NSW premier and Labor foreign minister Bob Carr’s false likening of Israel’s behaviour in Gaza to the war crimes of Stalin, Hitler and Mao received the contempt it deserved from Labor Friends of Israel co-convener Nick Dyrenfurth. Dr Dyrenfurth responded to Mr Carr’s outburst with historical truth: “During the systemic and cold-blooded extermination that was the Holocaust, the world’s Jewish population fell from 18 million to 12 million,” he said. “By contrast, since the founding of Israel in 1948, the Palestinian population in Gaza, the West Bank and Green Line Israel has grown from 1.2 million to some 5.5 million.” He could have added that Stalin and Mao were each responsible for countless millions of deaths because of political and religious persecutions, torture and prison labour. At least 30 million starved to death during the 1959-61 famine caused by Chinese Communist Party policies.
As the death toll in Gaza nears 60,000 according to Hamas health ministry figures, Mr Carr claimed a pattern of behaviour “that really demands comparison with the worst of the last 100 years, of Stalin’s Ukraine, of the Warsaw Ghetto, of Mao’s Great Leap Forward”. Unspeakable cruelty was being visited against babies and children as Israel used “mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide”. Whatever mistakes the Jewish state has made in a fraught situation, Hamas has oppressed ordinary Gazans, hijacking and selling aid at inflated prices, punishing those who oppose terror, and misusing their suffering as a propaganda weapon. Israel has finally stepped back to allow aid into the Strip, as Hamas continues to hold the remaining Israeli hostages after 21 months.
Despite pressure from Mr Carr for Anthony Albanese to recognise a nonexistent Palestinian state, which is no solution to the current suffering, the Prime Minister has shown appropriate leadership in resisting such a gesture. As he told the ABC: “How do you exclude Hamas from any involvement there? How do you ensure that a Palestinian state operates in an appropriate way which does not threaten the existence of Israel?” A state would need a structure; no elections had been held in the Palestinian Authority for about 20 years.
After the offensive, anti-Semitic excesses of the October 9, 2023, pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House forecourt, NSW Premier Chris Minns’s leadership in barring a pro-Palestinian march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3 makes eminent sense. The march, as Executive Council of Australian Jewry cochair Alex Ryvchin says, would sully another Australian icon.
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PM’s claim to high moral ground ignores reality of Hamas
The Australian | Letters | 29 July 2025
Anthony Albanese takes a breathtakingly unjustified high moral ground position when he singles out the plight of an unnamed child to morally condemn Israel for allegedly causing the mass starvation of the children of Gaza.
It is quite obvious that Albanese takes his views from the heavily biased news reporting from unverified pro-Hamas sources that bombard our ABC and SBS every day with photos of children and lines of food trucks standing idle on roads into Gaza.
All are allegedly the innocent victims of Israel aggression, without any honest due diligence investigative verification. Albanese cites “a breach of international law” without being able to identify what that breach actually is.
Albanese makes no mention of the hostages still held by Hamas and ignores the Israeli viewpoint that it is the heavily pro-Palestinian UN that is condemning Israel wrongly for its alleged starvation of children and it is the UN and Hamas that have prevented these food trucks from reaching the people.
Albanese tries and fails to have a dollar each way when he condemns Israel for its alleged inhumanity but in the same breath says Israel has a right to exist.
John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is correct in not recognising a Palestinian state while Hamas is still in charge.
However, Palestinians themselves will have to be convinced that a two-state solution is best for all concerned. For generations they have been conditioned to only want one state – their own – and for Israel to be eliminated. Albanese and Penny Wong are still ignoring this fact.
Julie Winzar, Palm Beach, Qld
While the cruel conflict continues to be played out in Gaza, it is becoming more apparent that it is because of Hamas that is holding its fellow citizens to ransom.
Every day we are confronted with the conflict in Gaza and with the heart-rending vision of children fighting for minimal nourishment, and babies dying a cruel death by starvation.
Public sentiment may no longer take into account that it is Hamas, which has failed to return the remaining hostages, that caused the original disaster by attacking and killing Israelis in 2023. Hamas has its own agenda and cares nothing for the wellbeing of its fellow citizens, whose lives hang by a thread living and dying in Gaza.
Death and devastation are what Hamas will have achieved for Gaza when the guns are finally silenced?
Stephanie Summers, North Turramurra, NSW
It seems Israel has lost the propaganda war in the Middle East and, by its lack of response to the persistent lies of Hamas, handed victory in the court of public opinion to the terrorists.
Everyone knows Palestinian leaders since Yasser Arafat have lied and failed to honour their promises, yet every day we read in the media the republication of evidence-free stories from “Palestinian authorities” of how the Israelis are starving innocent Palestinians to death and shooting these same innocents while they stand in line for food handouts. No one questions why the IDF would do this, or who stands to gain from the reported deaths in food queues.
A moment’s thought provides the answer: Hamas, of course!
And as long as Israel fails to counter these false stories, it will continue to lose the war.
Hamas will fight to the last innocent man, woman and child and will never give up the hostages – its principal protection against defeat.
Yet no one ever reminds us that taking, keeping and maltreating hostages is itself a war crime.
Whatever happened to journalistic integrity?
- MacDermott, Binalong, NSW
Israel must be the only country in the history of war that is required to give aid to the very people it is at war with.
On top of that, it is also required to warn them beforehand of any action so that the enemy can evacuate.
Who else would do that in a war? Seems the rules are very much different for Israel.
Ivan Cope, Tanunda, SA
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Recognising Palestine state would be a mistake
The Australian | Greg Sheridan | 29 July 2025
The Albanese government is likely to extend formal diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state some time in this term of parliament, though not as soon as at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
In my view, the considerations driving the government are almost entirely about managing domestic politics and avoiding a fresh bit of trouble with the Trump administration in Washington.
My guess would be that if the British Labour government of Sir Keir Starmer extends formal diplomatic recognition to Palestine, the Albanese government will follow. Whether done with Britain, or alone, such a move would be a mistake.
The PM was nonetheless at something approaching his best in his discussion of this issue with David Speers on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday. Albanese said, inter alia: “How do you exclude Hamas from an involvement there? How do you ensure that a Palestinian state operates in an appropriate way which does not threaten the existence of Israel? So we (won’t) make any decision as a gesture. We will do it as a way forward if the circumstances are met.”
That’s perfectly sensible. If the government sticks to these requirements it will logically go back to the position of seeing the full, formal, diplomatic recognition of Palestine as something that can only satisfy the PM’s own criteria if it comes at the end of a negotiated agreement with Israel.
The big conceptual change the Albanese government made from the position of previous Australian governments has been outlined numerous times by Foreign Minister Penny Wong. It is that early recognition of a Palestinian state, though no such state exists, could be part of the peace process, could accelerate the peace process.
This defies all logic and sense.
The only idea behind it is that there’s a perfect two-state solution all ready to go, and only the intransigence of Israel stops it coming about.
In fact, if you include the initial UN partition into an Arab and a Jewish state in 1947 – rejected by the Arab world, which immediately launched a war of attempted annihilation on Israel – Palestinians have been offered a full state on four occasions.
They’ve rejected it each time.
For, as Albanese himself says, it’s necessary that such a state not pose a threat to Israel. That means no anti-Israel terrorism from that state, a complete acceptance of Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state, complete respect for its negotiated borders and an end of all other claims against Israel.
One practical problem is that any Palestinian leader who agreed to a state on anything like those terms would certainly be assassinated by Islamist extremists.
Therefore, for the moment, no two-state solution is available, although it’s the only solution in the long run. But you probably need 20 years of normalisation before you get to peace treaty territory.
Albanese is entitled to put public pressure on the Israeli government over the appalling humanitarian circumstances now prevailing in Gaza. Albanese’s government has, counterproductively, walked away from Australia’s historic friendship with Israel and undoubtedly Canberra now has less influence in Jerusalem than at any time since the disastrous Whitlam government.
Nonetheless, Israel is committing a grave moral and political error in its policies in Gaza today.
The overwhelming moral responsibility for the truly appalling suffering and tragedy of the people of Gaza rests with Hamas.
Remember, Hamas is a proscribed, deeply anti-Semitic, terrorist organisation, of grotesque blood-lust, funded since its inception by Iran. It shares with Tehran the desire to wipe Israel off the map.
The Hamas terrorist atrocities of October 7, 2023, were among the most depraved and savage the world has seen. Every civilised human being stood with Israel at that point. But Hamas conducted that barbarous savagery as an act of considered policy. It foretold that Israel would make a massive response and it also foretold that Israel would suffer gravely in its international standing as a result.
Even now, Hamas could end the terrible suffering of the people it claims to represent simply by releasing the 19 or 20 Israeli hostages believed to be alive that it’s still holding.
However, while the savagery of Hamas required a strong Israeli reaction, that doesn’t absolve Israel morally or politically for the responsibility it now has for the two million people in Gaza, and their basic human needs for food, etc.
Israel has no good options in Gaza but it must choose a policy and implement it. The Netanyahu government, to the chagrin of the Israel Defence Forces, has never outlined what it plans for Gaza after the fighting is over.
If Israel withdraws right now, Hamas reasserts control, which is plainly unacceptable. On the other hand, the international community would go berserk if Israel reoccupied Gaza altogether, but at least then Israel would be responsible for Gaza’s administration, providing food, education, vaccinations, etc.
There’s talk of an international Arab peacekeeping force but surely it’s acutely unlikely any Arab government would ever shoot a Gaza terrorist to prevent them attacking Israel. Some Israelis talk of empowering local clans to fight Hamas, but that would be chaotic. Benjamin Netanyahu hates the option, but eventually it will probably be necessary for the Palestinian Authority, hopefully reformed, to resume administration of Gaza.
Israel cannot allow the present situation to continue.
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Blasted over Gaza Carr crash
Daily Telegraph (Herald-Sun) | James Morrow | 29 July 2025
Former premier Bob Carr has been slammed for comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the behaviour of 20th century tyrants Mao Tse-Tung and Josef Stalin, with critics saying he just wanted to “provoke outrage” and return to “relevance”.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said “anyone who has shared a conversation with Bob Carr knows the only thing that really matters to him is Bob Carr”.
“There is so much needless suffering and it is squarely the fault of the terrorist force that invaded a sovereign country, committed sickening atrocities, dragged 250 innocent people into dungeons and still refuses a ceasefire,” Mr Rychin told The Daily Telegraph.
“Carr just wants to provoke outrage from the Jewish community to propel him back to relevance. It is a shame he didn’t exhibit such vigour during his brief and forgettable tenure as foreign minister.
“But the Jewish community is unconcerned by Carr’s provocations. We have genuine concerns and he is not among them. And the desperate manner of his unsolicited interventions just shows he is manipulating the tragedy of war for his own interests.”
Mr Carr, a long-time advocate for a Palestinian state, said Israel’s actions in Gaza “really demands comparison with the worst of the last 100 years, of Stalin’s Ukraine, of the Warsaw Ghetto, of Mao’s Great Leap Forward.”
“Unspeakable cruelty is being visited against babies and children in the enforcement of something not seen in the modern world, that is an advanced state using mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide,” he told the ABC’s Radio National.
Labor Friends of Israel co-convener Nick Dyrenfurth accused Mr Carr of “wilfully lying and deliberately stoking community tensions with extremist language”.
Dr Dyrenfurth said Mr Carr did not “speak for Labor” and declared that while “war is an awful thing … there is no genocide taking place”.
“There is room for robust debate on Israel’s actions – it is instructive that Carr’s first response to the October 7 pogrom was to note ‘Hamas has won a tactical success’ and he has had little to say about this fascist terror group since without resorting to equating a vibrant democracy that protects the rights of people of all faiths, minorities and LGBT citizens with past totalitarian regimes.”
Dr Dyrenfurth told Mr Carr to “promptly apologise to Australia’s Jewish community and to his fellow ALP members”.
Despite concerns about humanitarian aid and food shortages in Gaza, Israeli officials denied at a briefing in Canberra there was any starvation.
Deputy Israeli ambassador Amir Meron blamed images of starvation on Hamas propaganda. “This is a false campaign that is being (led) by Hamas, taking advantage of sick children in order to show a false claim … of hunger and starvation,” he said.
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Israel halts fighting to allow aid
Daily Telegraph (Herald-Sun) | 29 July 2025
GAZA CITY: Jordanian and Emirati planes dropped food into Gaza on Sunday, as Israel began a limited “tactical pause” in some military operations to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.
UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed Israel’s tactical pauses, saying his teams “will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can.”
The Israeli decision came as international pressure mounted on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent mass starvation in Gaza.
Accusing the UN of fabricating “pretexts and lies about Israel” blocking aid, Mr Netanyahu said “there are secure routes” for aid.
“There have always been, but today it’s official. There will be no more excuses,” he added.
The Palestinian territory is gripped by dire humanitarian conditions created by 21 months of war and made worse by Israel’s total blockade of aid from March to May.
Since the easing of the blockade, the levels of aid to Gaza have been far below what aid groups say is needed.
The World Health Organisation said that of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 were in July.
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No negotiation until hostages freed
Daily Telegraph | Editorial | 29 July 2025
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is holding firm against his own government’s activist left wing and for now is not calling for official Australian recognition of Palestine.
This places Australia on the correct side of things, again for now, in comparison with the likes of pro-recognition France.
There are many reasons to reject Palestinian recognition at this point, the most obvious being that Hamas is still holding innocent Israeli hostages.
Any capitulation to Hamas, and that is what recognition would amount to, would endorse Hamas’s kidnapping – and the terror group’s murderous October 7 atrocities.
A supplementary issue involves the psychological pressure being exerted on the West by supporters of Palestinian statehood.
Put simply, much of the so-called “news” that has emerged from the Gaza Strip since Israel began attacks on Hamas following October 7 has been pure terrorist propaganda.
It is worth asking why, if Israel’s actions towards Hamas are held to be obviously evil, so many lies are continuously told.
As well, we should ask why Hamas is presented as a credible source of neutral information. They are killers, nothing more.
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Time to intervene to stop protests
Herald-Sun | James Campbell | 29 July 2025
It’s hard to know what is more frightening – that a state government minister won’t criticise a protest that caused the closure of Australia’s greatest art gallery or a state government minister won’t condemn protesters for targeting a gallery because it accepted money from Jews.
For more than a year, Victorians have wondered why despite clear evidence the Premier gets it, her government is taking so long to crack down on the
anti-Semitic protests that have blighted the city.
Listening to the performance of her Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ingrid Stitt on Monday as she went out of her way to avoid criticising protesters for shutting the NGV, as well as their decision to target the institution because of its connection to the Gandel family, that inactivity became easier to understand.
Because hearing it, it was hard not to wonder if Stitt’s heart is not with the protesters rather than the public or the Jewish community who feel the state has deserted them.
Stitt told reporters: “We want to make sure people can move around the city with confidence and safely.”
Ask yourself if that is what happened on Sunday.
Then ask yourself why can’t our government say what happened is acceptable.
It is unfortunate for Stitt – and by extension Allan – that the closure of one of the symbols of our city should have come at the same time as the NSW Premier Chris Minns has made it clear that he is not going to allow
pro-Palestinian protesters to shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
And make no mistake the symbolism is important.
The “rally” on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in the days after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 sent a powerful message around the world.
Not only that, the failure of the NSW police to intervene after the crowd started
anti-Jewish slogans (the nature of which is disputed) sent a message that anything goes, a message that Premier Minns has struggled for almost two years to underdo.
It has been said before and unfortunately still needs saying that it is long past
time for the state to intervene to stop these protests that have long since morphed into anti-Semitism.
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Vizard rages at ‘rampant racism’
Herald-Sun | Carly Douglas | 29 July 2025
Former head of the National Gallery of Victoria Steve Vizard has urged the Allan government to crack down on a “growing culture of lawlessness” after anti-Israel extremists targeted Jewish philanthropists and sent the state’s premier arts institution into lockdown.
Mr Vizard, the former president of the NGV and a Monash University professor, said it was “outrageous” that protesters had targeted the Gandels and sent the NGV into lockdown.
“That a handful of protesters are permitted to shut down a major public gallery and slander some of Melbourne’s most esteemed families – families who have contributed to the cultural life of this city and nation for generations – by engaging in rampant racism, anti-Semitism, is outrageous,” he said. “And increasingly dangerous. The government could stop this growing culture of lawlessness in a heartbeat if they wanted … they appear to choose not to.”
Melbourne’s CBD erupted into chaos again on Sunday as about 1000 protesters, some chanting “Death to the IDF” and “Socialism now”, rallied outside the NGV, blocking the path of families with little kids.
As Victoria’s Multicultural Minister Ingrid Stitt defended the Melbourne protest on Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns rejected a pro-Palestine march across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge under the state’s protest permit system.
But Premier Jacinta Allan could not commit yesterday to blocking future rallies outside iconic Melbourne venues.
Victorian protesters had targeted the NGV following a gala dinner at which a hall was renamed in honour of well-known Jewish philanthropists John and Pauline Gandel.
Protesters labelled the couple “genocidal Zionists” and “long-time associates” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning they would “keep disrupting until NGV drops the Gandels”.
Mr Vizard said he was “all for free speech and protest and debate”, but never at the cost of the “freedoms of most law-abiding Melburnians”.
“These protesters do their own causes no good by attacking good citizens on the basis of race or religion,” he said.
“We put a government in charge to foster harmony, to protect us.
“They’re good at protecting the protesters. How about the rest of us?”
Ms Allan condemned the “anti-Semitic” targeting of the Jewish donors at the protest.
“Philanthropy is the lifeblood of the arts and the Gandels are among Victoria’s most prolific givers and supporters,” she said. “Targeting Jewish philanthropy is not activism, it’s anti-Semitism.”
It came as Mr Minns said on Monday he would not support the shutdown of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a major pro-Palestine protest this weekend.
Unlike in Victoria, where protesters do not have to warn authorities, protest organisers in NSW must apply for a protest permit or risk their attendees being arrested under anti-protest laws.
Mr Minns said unplanned disruptions on one of the city’s most critical pieces of infrastructure risked “significant inconvenience” and “public safety”.
The Allan government has repeatedly refused to introduce a permit system, while the state’s opposition has pledged to introduce a similar system to NSW.
New Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush, who has rejected the idea of a permit system, said he had watched the “peaceful” rally from the “start to the finish”.
“It was peaceful as I walked through Swanston St, it was loud, there were a lot of people there, they were entitled to do that,” he said.
“Yes there was an inconvenience (at the NGV) to the public … in front of the gallery, I’m proud of how they (police) did that to prevent any disturbance, or harm or violence.”
But opposition police spokesman David Southwick said police must be given stronger move-on powers.
“When they target galleries … when they target synagogues, that is one step way too far,” he said.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin also slammed the protesters as he called for a police crackdown.
“(Sunday’s) disgusting protest targeted two Jewish Australians in their 90s, who have devoted their lives to Holocaust education and philanthropy,” he said.
Ms Stitt defended the protesters on Monday, saying it was their right.
“In Victoria, people do have the right to protest peacefully and the vast majority of people do protest peacefully,” she said.
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Chilling theme in anti-Israeli attack videos
Herald-Sun | Carly Douglas | 29 July 2025
Masked anti-Israel terrorists launched a series of attacks on one of Australia’s biggest logistics companies, smashing office windows with sledgehammers and bragging about their destruction online.
Chilling footage has emerged of three violent attacks on Toll Group facilities across Melbourne between July 18 and 22, with vandals boasting about their lawlessness and calling for “Death to Australia” and “Death to America”.
In one video, the terrorists – dressed in black – march up to Toll’s Collins St office before smashing the front windows and spraying red paint across the front of the building. They then enter the foyer where they continue to spray red paint on the walls and floor.
The terrorists accuse Toll of partnering with global munitions company NIOA Group and defence contractor Thales to supply ammunition to the Israeli military.
“Toll transports weapons and munitions from Australian manufacturers to America where they are used as a second supply line to support Israel’s genocidal occupation of Palestine,” the video reads.
The video shows the phrases “Death to Israel”, “Death to America”, “Death to Australia” flashing across the screen as the vandals finish off their attack and run from the scene.
In another video, a group of masked vandals clad in black can be seen walking up to Toll’s Campbellfield office with sledgehammers and smashing the glass doors in.
“Toll will pay for its colonialist violence,” the video reads. A third video appears to have been taken at Global Toll Forwarding in Westmeadows.
The dark footage shows vandals again spraying red paint across the building.
A police spokesperson said detectives believed the three incidents were linked.
No arrests have been made.
It comes just weeks after a disturbing video was released by a terrorist “cell” claiming responsibility for the firebombing of three cars at a Lovitt Technologies in Greensborough.
The anti-Israel terrorists, who threatened workers at the machine manufacturing company, claim Lovitt has ties to the Israeli Defence Force.
Victoria Police are investigating whether the attacks on Lovitt Technologies and Toll Group are linked. The Lovitt video, which has been compared to footage released by al-Qaeda, threatened to release personal information about Victorian Lovitt Technologies workers to “underground networks” and warns them the “cell” will “decide your fate”.
“Police are also looking at whether the incidents are related to any other recent incidents of criminal damage, including an incident at a Greensborough business earlier in July,” a spokesperson said. “At this time no one has been arrested and the investigation remains ongoing.”
A Toll Group spokesperson said the company was assessing the damage and assisting police with their investigations. “Toll Group is aware of recent incidents at several of its Melbourne locations and is co-operating fully with authorities,” she said.
“In response to the vandalism we continue to monitor and maintain security levels at all Toll facilities and places of work, with our employees as our top priority.”
She said Toll provided logistics services “compliant with all applicable laws and regulations” and that the company was committed to operating “safely, responsibly, and in full compliance with legal and regulatory” rules.
Opposition police spokesperson David Southwick said the fact the thugs were flaunting the attacks online pointed to a “complete breakdown in law enforcement”.
“Victoria is spiralling into lawlessness when extremists can openly incite violence, promote criminal damage, and encourage anarchy without consequence,” he said.
“This isn’t a protest. It’s calculated thuggery.”
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Carr: Israel like Nazis, Stalin
Hobart Mercury | Jessica Wang | 29 July 2025
Former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr has likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to war crimes committed by the Nazis, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.
The former NSW premier and Labor heavyweight said Israel was using “mass starvation against the civilian population as a weapon of war”.
“There’s a pattern of behaviour here that really demands comparison with the worst of the last 100 years, of Stalin’s Ukraine, of the Warsaw Ghetto, of Mao’s Great Leap Forward,” he said. “Unspeakable cruelty is being visited against babies and children in the enforcement of something not seen in the modern world, that is an advanced state using mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide.”
Israel has started a “tactical pause” to allow aid agencies to tackle the hunger crisis in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was not to blame for the situation, adding there were “secure routes” for aid.
Mr Carr urged the Prime Minister to follow French President Emmanuel Macron to recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations in September.
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Who’s the terrorist?
Hobart Mercury | Quick Views | 29 July 2025
Who’s the terrorist?
A population is being starved to death in Gaza. Well may we ask who the terrorist organisation is.
- Ross
Gaza atrocities
People are dying of starvation in Gaza. Is there any limit to Israel’s animosity towards Palestinian people?
Ike Naqvi, Sandy Bay
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Trump says many starving in Gaza, vows food centres
Canberra Times | 29 July 2025
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9027246/trump-says-many-starving-in-gaza-vows-food-centres/
US President Donald Trump says many people are starving in the Gaza Strip and has suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as Palestinians struggled to feed their children a day after Israel declared steps to improve supplies.
As the death toll from two years of war in the enclave nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gazan health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.
Describing starvation in the Gaza Strip as real, Trump’s assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday “there is no starvation in Gaza” and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas – a statement he reposted on X on Monday.
Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows and that a lot of people could be saved.
“You have a lot of starving people,” he said.
“We’re going to set up food centres,” with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump said.
Trump said he would not comment on a push by French President Emmanuel Macron to back Palestinian statehood.
The United States would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip, including food and sanitation, Trump said.
On Monday, the Gazan health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war’s death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks.
Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of the enclave, new safe corridors for aid convoys and airdrops.
The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday.
Two Israeli defence officials said the international pressure prompted the new Israeli measures, as did the worsening conditions on the ground.
United Nations agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed.
The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched – short of target.
Almost 470,000 people in the Gaza Strip are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said.
“Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,” WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic.
“At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out.”
Netanyahu has denied any policy of starvation, saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting.
In his statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would continue to fight until achieving the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of its military and governing capabilities.
Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days but he was talking with Netanyahu about “various plans” to free hostages still held in the enclave.
The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas militants attacked communities across the border in southern Israel, killing about 1200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gazan health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
Some of the trucks that made it into the strip were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.
“Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed,” said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City.
Qatar said it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for the strip.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies.
Israel cut off all supplies to the Gaza Strip from the start of March, reopening the territory with new restrictions in May.
Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of the Gaza Strip’s people.
“Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bald-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.