Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza must be a “red line” for the Albanese government as opponents call for sanctions in light of the decision.
Overnight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation intended to take military control of all of Gaza in the latest development in the bloody war in the strip that began almost two years ago.
“We intend to,” Mr Netanyahu told Fox News when asked if Israel would take over the entire territory.
Israel would eventually hand over the territory to Arab forces, who would govern it, he said.
“We don’t want to keep it,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body.”
Early on Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Mr Netanyahu’s office later confirmed.
Israel should not move ahead with the plan, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
“Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” she said.
“Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law.”
Greens senator David Shoebridge called on the government to impose sanctions on Israel similar to those rolled out against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“After two years of inaction, this must be a red line for the Albanese government,” he said.
“The time is now for immediate and strong action … end the two-way arms trade and sanction key decision makers, including the (Israeli) security cabinet.”
But Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin said Mr Netanyahu’s proposal would mean the defeat of Hamas, the designated terrorist organisation whose actions began the latest conflict.
“The proposal, as I understand, it is to conquer Gaza, to remove the last bastions of Hamas strongholds, to dismantle infrastructure, hopefully rescue the hostages and then hand over control of the strip to an international force made up of Arab nations as a transition towards Palestinian self-government,” he told ABC TV.
“The Palestinians have to determine their own future, but Hamas has to be removed from power as well.”
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the Albanese government must go beyond “flimsy acts of diplomacy” to prevent a takeover of Gaza.
“There can surely be no remaining pretence that Israel is doing anything other than permanently erasing Gaza in order to occupy and annex it,” he said.
“Gaza has already been occupied, besieged and bombed by Israel for decades.
“What is happening now is the final stage of ethnic cleansing and the world is enabling it.”
The Israeli government has said it wants total victory in its war with Hamas, which attacked the nation’s south in October 2023, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory assaults have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Almost 200 people, nearly half of them children, have reportedly died of starvation.
The worsening humanitarian situation has driven plans from the UK, France and Canada to call for the recognition of Palestine at a United Nations meeting in September, pending conditions such as Hamas returning remaining hostages.
Australian government ministers have said the nation’s recognition of Palestinian statehood is a matter of “when, not if”.
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