Australia is being urged to take action against Israel after its war in Gaza was branded an act of genocide against Palestinians.
Leaders from 20 major aid agencies have decried an unprecedented humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel is throttling aid and supplies as the official death toll tallied by the local health ministry nears 65,000.
A United Nations inquiry has found that statements made by certain Israeli ministers established an intent to commit genocide.
It cited the targeting of civilians, blocking access to food and water and killings in “far larger numbers compared to previous conflicts”, after a two-year investigation.
Israel denies it’s committing genocide, causing starvation or deliberately targeting civilians.
International law expert Don Rothwell said Australia had an obligation to use all means available to prevent genocide in the strip.
“So the answer for Australia as a party to the Genocide Convention is Yes,” he told AAP when asked if the nation had any responsibilities following the report’s release.
This includes ending the transfer of arms or other items, including fuel that Israel could use in military operations.
Save the Children Australia international programs director Francis Woods said the organisation needed to distribute nutritional supplements to staff to prevent their children from starving.
Hundreds of people have died from starvation and malnutrition.
Ms Woods, who has worked in the field for two decades across South Sudan, Kenya, Haiti, Yemen and Libya, said she had “never witnessed anything like what is happening in Gaza”.
The UN inquiry findings on Israel “validates what humanitarian workers have been documenting for months”.
“What is happening in Gaza goes far beyond the devastation of war,” she said.
“When your own humanitarian workers are themselves facing starvation while trying to help others, it tells you everything about the totality of this siege.
“This isn’t collateral damage from conflict, this is a deliberately engineered humanitarian catastrophe.”
Ms Woods said while Australia had “rightly spoken out against these atrocities”, it needed to act in the wake of the report and use all diplomatic tools, including economic and legal measures.
Following the report, Foreign Minister Penny Wong again condemned Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians seeking food and water.
In language similar to that used by Australian ministers ahead of the report, Senator Wong said “the Netanyahu government is more isolated than ever”.
“Australia and the international community have been clear, long before this report, that the situation in Gaza had gone beyond the world’s worst fears,” she said in a statement.
“Israel will be judged by the International Court of Justice on its compliance with the Genocide Convention.
“We reiterate our demand on the Netanyahu Government to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, and to stop undermining a two-state solution.”
The foreign minister reiterated Australia’s unequivocal condemnation of the designated terror group Hamas and called for the release of the remaining hostages it took during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when 1200 people were killed.
Australia hasn’t sanctioned Israel, despite calls from humanitarian organisations, but has sanctioned extremist ministers and violent settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It also voted on September 12 for the peaceful creation of a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution at the UN – a motion which was passed 142 to 10 – with Israel and the United States opposed.
The International Court of Justice has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
Israel has rejected the warrants.