In a private meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Australia, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza and called for it to urgently comply with international law and increase the supply of food to Palestinians.
Wong’s Thursday meeting with Amir Maimon was requested by the Israeli embassy, according to federal government sources, and took place inside Wong’s office at Parliament House in Canberra.
The meeting was held days after Australia joined 27 other countries in condemning Israel for denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
At the time, Wong said the decision to sign the statement reflected the “concern” and “distress” Australians felt from seeing the images of starving Palestinians in Gaza.
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The Thursday discussion followed another meeting between Maimon and lower-level foreign affairs officials in Canberra earlier in the week, as reported by the Nine Newspapers.
Australian sources said Wong repeated her public criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza during the meeting with Maimon. This included a request for Israel to comply with international law and ensure enough food was being provided to Palestinians.
Wong’s office declined to comment on the meeting, and the Israeli embassy has been contacted for comment.
Before both meetings took place, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, accused Israel of “clearly” breaching international law and said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was “losing support” internationally.
After those comments, Wong said: “It is forbidden to withhold aid from civilians, that is not consistent with international law, but actually, just as importantly, it’s morally the wrong thing to do.”
Earlier in the week, a select group of journalists attended a briefing at the Israeli embassy where Israel’s deputy ambassador, Amir Meron, reportedly said: “We don’t recognise any famine or any starvation in the Gaza Strip.”
In response, Albanese said that statement was “beyond comprehension” and raised concerns about Israel restricting journalists from visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Dozens of Palestinians have died of hunger in recent weeks in a crisis attributed by the UN and other humanitarian organisations to Israel’s blockade of almost all aid into the territory.
Two Israeli-based rights groups this week declared that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, with reports citing evidence including the weaponisation of hunger. B’tselem described an “official and openly declared policy” of mass starvation.
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On Wednesday, Australia joined 14 other countries in describing the recognition of Palestine as “an essential step towards the two-state solution”, linking progress on statehood to the upcoming United Nations general assembly meeting in September.
But Albanese also criticised calls for further actions against Israel as “slogans” as he faced intensifying pressure from his MPs, Labor members and the Greens to reconsider his position on the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
He has so far stopped short of matching his UK counterpart Keir Starmer’s promise to recognise the state of Palestine in September unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.
“What I’ve said is that it’s not the timeline, that’s not what we’re looking at. What we’re looking at is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states,” Albanese said on Wednesday, a day before Wong met Maimon.
