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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have called for restraint in targeting civilian lives as the death toll mounts from the Israel and Hamas war, while continuing to assert Israel’s right to respond to the deadly attack.
Wong on Monday repeated that Australia unequivocally condemned the assault on Israel by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which controls Gaza, and described the indiscriminate rocket fire, civilian attacks and taking of hostages over the weekend as “abhorrent acts”.
Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
She also continued calling for restraint as the conflict escalated, despite criticism from Opposition frontbencher Michael Sukkar, who posted on X that “Israel has every right to defend itself with whatever force is required”.
“I think it is always the right thing for Australia to urge restraint and the protection of civilian lives,” Wong said in her Monday morning doorstop.
“Whatever people’s views about the history of this conflict, we can never condone the targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages. I think that is something all Australians would agree with, or many Australians would agree with.”
She said Israel would make its own decisions about how to defend itself in circumstances where it was attacked overnight and civilians were targeted.
“But we will always, in any conference, urge all parties to look to protect civilian lives and I think that is the right thing to do.”
Albanese on Monday said Hamas bore responsibility for the escalating conflict as he repeated his condemnation of their attack as horrific. “This wasn’t a military to military conflict, this was targeting people in more than 20 towns and villages in southern Israel who were just going about their daily lives,” he said.
“This has been a real shock, not just to Israel, but to the world. Hamas deserves to be condemned, and has been by the world for its engagement in this action. Israel, of course, has a right to defend itself, as it will.”
When asked about Wong’s views, Albanese said he agreed “there should always be restraint when it comes to the targeting of civilians”.
“Everyone engaged in this exercise should make sure that they bear that in mind,” he said.
“But Israel, of course, has to respond here to this attack on their land and it is quite an extraordinary situation. This is the most devastating day in 50 years.”
There were at least 700 Israelis killed as well as an estimated 400 Palestinian deaths in Gaza, according to the latest estimates.
Wong said the government was working with local authorities to confirm the welfare of Australians in affected areas. There have been no reports about Australians hospitalised, injured or any fatalities, but the government is still working to ascertain people’s locations.
Wong asked any Australians in Israel to contact their families to confirm their safety, if they had not yet done so. The Smartraveller website has also been updated to advise Australians against travelling to Gaza and areas near its border with Israel.
Both Wong and Albanese said Israel had made no request for military assistance from Australia, as the United States prepared to deploy military ships and aircraft closer to Israel. Albanese said Australia would give its political support, while Wong said there were Australian Defence Force personnel in the region on peacekeeping arrangements.
“When I spoke to Foreign Minister Coen, there was no request at that stage for any assistance,” Wong said. “But I reiterated to him our deep condolences and sympathy and our solidarity with Israel at this time.”
Albanese said he was “very concerned about any escalation of the conflict here” after Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon, supported the Hamas attacks and fired rockets into Israeli territory on Sunday.
“That will, of course, just result in further casualties on all sides, and that will not be productive if that occurs from southern Lebanon,” he said.
He also said Australia would “wait and see” what happened next in negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which the US has been supporting.
“The immediate concern here has been, quite rightly, the priority to stabilise things in Israel, to see the Hamas fighters removed from where they are,” Albanese said.
The Israeli Embassy in Australia in a statement said it appreciated the Australian government had shown support, solidarity, and recognised Israel’s right to self-defence.
Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said he was mourning a death in his own family as he thanked Australian politicians for their support.
“These are terrible, dark days for my country. Now we have the grim task of finishing a fight we did not seek, and did not start. We will spare no effort in defending our homeland,” he said.
Alex Ryvchin, from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said he called on the Australian government to maintain their support “in the weeks and months to come”.
Izzat Abdulhadi, the Palestinian Authority’s representative in Canberra which operates in the West Bank and is not affiliated with Hamas, on Sunday called for Australia to play an active role in negotiating a ceasefire to stop more lives being lost.
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