Australia says world seeing extent to which Israel can go to avoid Gaza ceasefire

ANKARA

Australia on Wednesday said Israel's threats to enact countermeasures, including annexing the occupied West Bank and crushing the Palestinian Authority, reveal its attitude toward peace in Gaza.

Commenting on the Israeli government's response to Australia's joint recognition of Palestine, along with France, the UK and Canada, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: "Well, I think the world is seeing the extent to which the Netanyahu government seems to be prepared to go to avoid a ceasefire and peace."

"And if those actions are taken, I think that will confirm that. We all want a ceasefire. We all want the hostages returned, and we want a pathway to peace. What is happening in Gaza is unacceptable," she added.

"If the hypothetical threats you are putting to me are carried out I think that would be the conclusion the world would draw," she told ABC in a TV interview when asked if the Israeli government does not want a ceasefire in order to continue its operations in Gaza, where its forces have killed more than 65,000 people since October 2023.

"The reason we have recognized, alongside the United Kingdom and Canada, a Palestinian state, is because simply this, the Palestinian people deserve a state. And we believe it's in the interests ultimately also of Israel that there will not be long-term peace and security in the region without there being a Palestinian state."

Wong also met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, a month after Iran's ambassador to Australia was expelled from the country.

Australian security agencies declared in August that they were investigating the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, in December last year.

"I think it was the right thing to do, to meet directly with my counterpart and look him in the eye and tell him precisely why we made the decisions we made," she added.

Asked if Aragchi denied the accusations that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps had directed two antisemitic attacks in Australia, Wong said, "I think you would anticipate Iran would not agree with our assessment."

"I made very clear that the government has confidence in the advice of our security agencies and has acted accordingly."

Many countries, including France, the UK, Canada, Australia and Belgium, announced their recognition of Palestinian statehood in the past three days, raising the total to 159 of the UN’s 193 member states.

Doctors fear for their lives

Meanwhile, two Australian doctors volunteering in Gaza said they fear for their lives amid continued Israeli attacks around the hospital where they are working, local broadcaster SBS News reported.

General physician Dr. Nada Abu Alrub and anesthetist Dr. Saya Aziz are volunteering in one of the war-torn enclave's last operational hospitals, al-Shifa, as part of a humanitarian mission for the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association.

The duo have been in the besieged territory for the past 10 days and were earlier forced to leave another hospital, al-Aqsa in Gaza City, after intensified Israeli bombardment in the area.

Aziz said she was not prepared for the "horror" of what she has seen since arriving in the besieged territory.

It's doomsday. You walk in, and it's like an abattoir," Aziz said.