Australia collaborates with Gaza for aid as UN calls for prompt ceasefire in Gaza

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government has partnered with Jordan to deliver more aid to Gaza, as supplies of essential goods remain critically low.

The government will provide $5 million to children’s charity UNICEF and $5 million to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization for critical medical supplies to support field hospitals in Gaza, according to a statement on Friday.

The funding brings Australia’s total humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by conflict in Gaza and Lebanon to over $110 million since 7 October 2023, the statement read.

The aid will help address the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza, Wong said.

“Aid is being prevented from reaching those who need it. Children are injured and starving. Israel’s ongoing restriction on aid into Gaza is costing lives,” Wong said.

“Our new partnership with Jordan will enable us to provide urgent medical support with those who need it most.”

Wong said Australia will continue to work with international partners to “press for a ceasefire, the return of hostages, and the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel”.

UN votes for ceasefire

Palestinians carry bags of food and humanitarian aid.

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah. Source: AAP / Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution that also demands the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, the return of Palestinian prisoners and those held under administrative detention in Israel and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The text garnered 149 votes in favour on Friday AEST, while 19 countries abstained and the US, Israel and 10 others voted against.

The resolution “strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians … of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supply and access.”

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told the General Assembly this was “blood libel”.

Danon had urged countries not to take part in what he said was a “farce” that undermines hostage negotiations and fails to condemn Hamas.

“It must be acknowledged that by failing to condition a ceasefire on the release of the hostages, you told every terrorist organisation that abducting civilians works,” he said.

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry weight as a reflection of the global view on the war.

Previous demands by the body for an end to the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been ignored.

Unlike the UN Security Council, no country has a veto in the General Assembly.

Libya’s UN ambassador Taher El-Sonni told the General Assembly before the vote that for “those pressing the red button today to vote against this resolution, [it] will become a blood stain on their fingers”.

The US last week vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that also demanded an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and unhindered aid access in Gaza, arguing it would undermine US-led efforts to broker a ceasefire.

The other 14 member states voted in favour of the draft as a humanitarian crisis grips the enclave of more than two million people, where the UN warns famine looms and aid has only trickled in since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade in May.

The vote came before a UN conference next week that aims to reinvigorate an international push for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians — a meeting the US is urging countries not to attend.

Nearly 55,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two million people.

Most of the population is displaced and malnutrition is widespread.