Key Points
- Australia and New Zealand have joined global calls for a "humanitarian pause" in the Israel-Hamas war.
- The Australian government is working with 79 people who are trapped in Gaza.
- Australians remaining in the Middle East have been urged to leave while they still can.
Australia and New Zealand have joined the United Nations, the United States and Canada in an appeal for a humanitarian pause in the Hamas-Israel war to allow safe deliveries of aid to civilians stricken by shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity in the Israeli-besieged enclave.
"We call for humanitarian pauses on hostilities, so food, water, medicine and other essential assistance can reach people in desperate need, and so civilians can get to safety," Foreign Minister Penny Wong posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It comes as Australian Defence Force personnel and two additional RAAF aircraft are being deployed to the Middle East.
Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the deployment was a precautionary measure that would support Australians in the region in case the security situation deteriorates.
"The situation is volatile and we very much hope that it is contained to Gaza," he told Sky News on Wednesday.
"But we are taking these steps now in the event that matters do get worse."
The Australian government is working with 79 people who are trapped in Gaza, but Marles acknowledged they were in a "very difficult situation".
There will be three RAAF aircraft in the area, though the government has not identified where they will be deployed or the exact number of troops that will accompany them.
"Three aircraft gives us reasonably significant capacity to lift Australians out if an evacuation is required," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
The defence force has helped 394 Australians, their families and approved foreign nations to leave Israel on five flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai. Another flight carrying 97 Australians and approved foreign nationals also flew from Dubai to Perth.
Defence personnel in the region have been accounted for and are safe.
More than 1,800 Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have left Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Record 24-hour death toll
International pressure for unimpeded aid to Gaza rose as the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory reported that Israeli air strikes had killed more than 700 Palestinians overnight. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said this was the highest 24-hour death toll in Israel's two-week-old siege.
UN agencies were pleading "on our knees" for emergency aid to be let into Gaza unimpeded, saying more than 20 times the number of current deliveries were needed to support the narrow strip's 2.3 million people amid widespread devastation from Israel's aerial blitz.
The United States is negotiating with Israel, neighbouring Egypt and the UN to smooth emergency deliveries into Gaza, but have wrangled over procedures for inspecting the aid and bombardments on the Gaza side of the border.
In a statement released on social media, the Palestinian health ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardments since 7 October, including 2,360 children. Some 704 were killed in the previous 24 hours alone, it said.
Reuters could not independently verify the ministry figures.
'Palestinian civilians must be protected'
The Israeli military said that it killed dozens of Hamas fighters overnight while hitting over 400 Hamas targets, but that it would take time to destroy the Islamist militant group whose.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded on Tuesday for civilians to be protected, voicing concern about "clear violations of international humanitarian law" in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to the UN Security Council, called for "humanitarian pauses" to enable urgent aid shipments to Gaza civilians.
"Palestinian civilians are not to blame for the carnage committed by Hamas," Blinken said, referring to the militants' killing of 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and capture of over 200 in a one-day rampage through Israeli communities near Gaza.
"Palestinian civilians must be protected. That means Hamas must cease using them as human shields ... It means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians," Blinken said.
The World Health Organization, in the latest increasingly desperate appeal from a UN body, called for "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" to prevent food, medicines and fuel supplies from running out in Gaza.
Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of disease caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes for temporary shelters under Israel's heaviest-ever bombardment.
But there appeared to be little prospect of a ceasefire any time soon in the bloodiest episode in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.
'I've been through hell'
Hamas on Monday — the third and fourth to be released.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said she was beaten by militants as she was abducted and had difficulty breathing.
"They stormed into our homes. They beat people. They kidnapped others, the old and the young without distinction," she said, seated in a wheelchair and speaking in barely a whisper to reporters.
"I've been through hell," Lifshitz said.
Israeli Yocheved Lifshitz said she was beaten during her abduction, then treated well during more than two weeks held captive in Gaza. Source: Getty / Erik Marmor
"They treated us gently and met all our needs," she said.
Among the targets Israel said it hit overnight was a tunnel that allowed Hamas to infiltrate Israel from the sea, as well as Hamas command centres in mosques, it said.
Reuters could not verify the report.
Wide areas of highly urbanised Gaza have been demolished by Israeli bombs, forcing more than half of its 2.3 million people to seek shelter elsewhere in the territory.
The significant escalation is the latest in a long-standing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
, gaining power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006.
Hamas's stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.
Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
The UN though did not condemn Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, due to insufficient support from member states to do so during a 2018 vote.
