KEY POINTS:
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for a pause to hostilities to allow aid into Gaza.
- Israel's ambassador says the country is 'ready' for war in Lebanon if provoked by Hezbollah.
- Israel has demanded the resignation of UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called on Israel to pause its bombardment of Gaza to allow for the flow of aid to civilians, describing the humanitarian situation in the densely populated strip as "dreadful".
Israel's ambassador to Australia has described as "fair" and says his country is ready for war in Lebanon, , if provoked by the militant group Hezbollah.
Israel has also demanded the resignation of UN chief Antonio Guterres, who said Hamas' attack on Israel "did not happen in a vacuum" and must not be used to carry out collective punishment - a war crime - on Palestinians.
More than by Israeli bombardments on Gaza since 7 October, when Hamas launched an attack on Israeli civilians, killing more than 1400.
On Wednesday, Wong called for a pause in the conflict to ensure humanitarian aid can be taken to "civilians who need it" currently stuck in Gaza.
"We know that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dreadful. We know that there is widespread suffering. And we have consistently called for the protection of civilian lines and for humanitarian aid to have access to Gaza," she said.
Penny Wong has called for a pause to the conflict in Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid to be taken in. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Wong accepted the international community was a "long way" from a two-state solution, allowing both Israeli and Palestinian states.
"We think that is the only pathway which will enable security for both Israelis and for Palestinians," she said.
Israel ready for war in Lebanon if forced: ambassador
Wong made the comments within hours of Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, telling the National Press Club that Israel was in "full compliance" with international law in Gaza.
"With all due respect, [Wong] represents Australia and I represent Israel," he said.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon at the National Press Club in Canberra. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Despite the soaring death toll in Gaza, which is expected to climb further once Israel launches a ground invasion, Maimon insisted, "it is not about the numbers, you don't measure the legitimacy by the numbers".
After Hamas' attack, Israel cut off water, food, and electricity in what the United Nations (UN) warned could constitute collective punishment.
"[Israel] is not obliged to provide humanitarian assistance but to allow the passage of humanitarian aid, as we are doing for the last few days," Maimon said.
"Let me please also bring up our concern about the humanitarian condition situation of the 222 Israelis who were abducted, who were hijacked. Among them [were] elderly people, babies, toddlers and others.
"What about their medical condition? What about their well-being? We're still waiting to see the international community putting the pressure on this issue."
The UN has repeatedly called for Hamas to release Israeli hostages.
Australians have been warned not to travel to Lebanon after skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which has a stronghold in the country's south. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates roughly 15,000 Australians are in Lebanon.
"We do not have any desire or interest to open another front but, if forced to, Israel is ready. We will not be surprised again," Maimon said.
"Hezbollah is engaging in daily provocations around the northern border during which they fired missiles, anti-tank missiles some terrorists were infiltrating villages along the border."
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni flatly rejected Maimon's claim that civilian deaths in Gaza were Hamas' moral responsibility.
Mashni stressed two million people had been trapped in an area roughly half the size of Canberra, and a million had been ordered to move south or "be treated as terrorists".
"Israel is the occupying power. Under international law [it is] an occupying power. It has sole responsibility for the people that it occupies," he told SBS News.
"Every Palestinian death at the end of Israeli armaments is absolutely the responsibility of the Israeli government ... Cutting off the gas, electricity, water and medicine to two million people - half of whom who are under 18 years - is a war crime. Any obfuscation from that line is just outrageous."
Mashni said he welcomed Wong's call for a humanitarian pause, but hoped the federal government's language would get "firmer and stronger".
"We look forward to the day when our foreign minister stands up to Israel, applies international humanitarian law and says: 'Enough, stop, a ceasefire'," he said.
Israel calls for UN chief's resignation
Israel reacted angrily on Wednesday after UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said Hamas' attack, while "appalling", had not "occurred in a vacuum".
Guterres said Israeli settlements in the West Bank - illegal under international law - had "steadily devoured" Palestinian land for decades, with Palestinians left displaced and "their homes vanished".
"The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation ... Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing," he said.
"[Hamas'] appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
In a thinly-veiled reference to Israel, Guterres also said protecting civilians "does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself".
Israeli Minister Benny Gantz labelled Guterres a "terror apologist" while the country's foreign minister, Eli Cohen, immediately cancelled a planned meeting with the UN chief planned for this week
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, described the speech as "shocking" and demanded Guterres step down.
"[He] shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly [and] is not fit to lead the UN," he wrote on X - formerly Twitter.
"There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people."
