Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles played down the notion that Australia could join Germany in denying Israel munitions for the operation.
“We have seen a lot of misinformation in relation to what Australia is doing,” Marles said on Sunday morning on the ABC’s Insiders program.
“The fundamental point is that we are not supplying weapons to Israel, and there is no step that we could take equivalent to that of Germany which would have any impact.”
Germany’s decision was viewed as significant because the nation has, with the United States, been one of Israel’s most steadfast supporters, due in large part to its intent to right the wrongs of the Holocaust. Germany provides about one-third of Israel’s military imports.
Australia is part of the global supply chain for F-35 fighter jets. But the Defence Department said last week that Australia had not supplied weapons nor ammunition to Israel since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack – during which some 1200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage – and not for the past five years.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and his Coalition counterpart, Andrew Hastie, both warned that Israel could breach international law, if it went ahead with plans to take back Gaza City.
Hastie said Netanyahu’s plan was “a very risky proposition” that could prolong Gaza’s “humanitarian crisis”.
“If you look at Gaza from a bird’s-eye view on Google Earth, you’ll see that a lot of it has been reduced to rubble,” he told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda.
“It would be incredibly difficult for IDF [Israel Defence Forces] troops to move through … and all the advantage would be with Hamas defenders and anyone else who would stand and fight, so we can expect more casualties.”
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Burke said: “It would be a breach of international law, and if they start doing what they’ve been doing with the West Bank and have settlers move in, that’s a further illegal action under international law.”
Asked on Sunday if Australia was considering more severe sanctions on Israel, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had already sanctioned far-right members of the Israeli cabinet.
“We make decisions and we never foreshadow any of those measures, but sometimes it’s just a slogan. I mean, sanctions … which sanctions are you talking about?” Albanese said at a press conference in New Zealand.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. The United Nations and independent experts view the ministry’s figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them without offering a toll of its own.
with Reuters
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