Twenty five countries, including Australia, the UK and France, are demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and for Israel to lift aid restrictions.
The joint statement, signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, comes amid growing international concern over the number of deaths at aid sites in the enclave.
It criticises what they called the “inhumane killing” of Palestinians and condemns the “drip feeding of aid”.Â
The majority of those killed in recent weeks have been in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.
“We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now,” the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Denmark and other countries, and an EU commissioner, said in a joint statement.
“We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,” it adds.
The statement also voices sharp condemnation of the Israeli government’s aid delivery model.Â
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. “We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”
Israel’s foreign ministry has rejected the joint statement as “disconnected from reality” and warned it “sends the wrong message to Hamas”.
The statement also includes condemnation for Hamas’s treatment of hostages held captive since the October 7 2023 attack.
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“We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release,” it said.
“A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.”
The statement has been signed by the EU commissioner Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Ms Wong, and the foreign ministers of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
Palestinians have protested against the Israeli aid blockade. (Reuters: Ebrahim Hajjaj)
In the statement, the countries say they “strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
It says that if the E1 settlement plan, which has been announced by Israel’s Civil Administration, was implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two.
This would mark a “flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution,” the statement added.
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The 25 countries went on to urge other members of the international community to “unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire”.
“Further bloodshed serves no purpose.
“We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this,” it added.
Israel ‘rejects the joint statement’
Hours after the joint statement was released, Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oran Marmorstein posted on X that it was “disconnected from reality”, adding that “it is better to avoid statements of this kind”.
“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” he wrote.
“Instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, Hamas is busy running a campaign to spread lies about Israel. At the same time, Hamas is deliberately acting to increase friction and harm to civilians who come to receive humanitarian aid.”
Mr Marmorstein added that Israel had agreed to “a concrete proposal for a ceasefire deal”, while Hamas had not signed it.
“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation.
“Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides.”
US not part of joint statement
The call for an end to the war and the way Israel delivers aid comes from several countries which are allied with Israel.
It is not signed or supported by Israel’s most important backer, the United States, however it does feature allies of the US.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system.
Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians but Hamas denies the accusation.
The UN has called the GHF’s model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which GHF denies.
In June this year, Foreign Minister Penny Wong damned Israel’s aid restrictions into Gaza.
The statement called for the immediate end to the war in Gaza. (Reuters: Mahmoud Issa)
“Australia has consistently been part of the international call on Israel to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice,” she said in a statement.
“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.”
ABC/Wires