Penny Wong says ‘steps towards ceasefire’ in Israel-Hamas war ‘cannot be one-sided’

Penny Wong has called for “steps towards” a ceasefire in Gaza, including greater restraint from Israel towards medical facilities and for Hamas to release Israeli hostages.

The Australian foreign minister told ABC’s Insiders she is “deeply concerned” about the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza but steps towards a ceasefire “cannot be one-sided”, because Hamas is yet to release hostages taken in its 7 October attacks.

Last week Wong wrote in the Guardian that Israel’s observance of international law “matters for [its] own security”, calling for a renewed international effort to find a two-state solution.

She reprised that argument on Sunday, saying that a “just and enduring peace, Palestinians and Israelis living within internationally recognised borders, is the only pathway for security both for Israel and for Palestinians”.

Wong has consistently called for restraint when it comes to protection of civilian life, modest statements that have still come under partisan attack from the Coalition opposition.

Pressure has been mounting within Labor to do more to call out Israel’s reprisals, with two senior ministers labelling them collective punishment and communities represented by Labor MPs concerned that Australia abstained from a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza. Australia argued the motion was “incomplete” because it did not mention Hamas as the perpetrator of the 7 October attack.

Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has seen close-quarter battles raging around the most important hospital, al-Shifa, in the heart of its biggest city.

On Sunday the UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, warned there is “no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee”.

Wong told Insiders she is “deeply concerned, as others are, about the sort of destruction we are seeing”.

“What I would say is we all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire, but it cannot be one-sided. Hamas still holds hostages. Hamas is still attacking Israel.”

Wong said that Hamas, as a terrorist organisation, had “demonstrated it has no respect for international law”.

“But Australia is a democracy and so, too, is Israel and the standards that we seek and accept are higher,” she said. “International humanitarian law is very clear about the principles that need to be applied by Israel – they are distinction [between combatants and non-combatants] … and proportionality.”

“We have seen a harrowing number of civilians, including children, killed. This has to end and we are particularly concerned with what is happening with medical facilities.”

Wong said Australia understood “the argument that Hamas is burrowed into civilian infrastructure” but that this does not “obviate the requirement to observe international law”.

“International human law does require the protection of hospitals, of patients and of medical staff.”

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Asked about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about maintaining security in Gaza once Israel removes Hamas from power, Wong said the conflict had shown – in addition to the “obvious fact” of Hamas’s intent to destroy Israel – “that there is no just and enduring peace without a political process towards a two-state solution”.

Wong said Friday night’s protest in Caulfield opposite a synagogue “was not the right thing to do”, and that organisers had acknowledged that and apologised.

“All Australians, including our Jewish community … have a right to be safe and feel safe,” she said. “No one in this country should be fearful because of who they are or their faith.”

Wong said the government understood “distress” about the conflict in Gaza, but community members should “not let that distress turn to anger and hate in a way that divides us”.

Appearing on Sky News, the opposition defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, condemned the actions of the protesters at the pro-Palestine rally. “It was a power grab and it was an assertion of one group over another for primacy in the public space,” he said.

Hastie said Israel had shown “great restraint” in its response to the conflict following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

In her Insiders appearance, Wong also discussed Australia’s recent treaty with Tuvalu, which offers permanent residency to people affected by the climate crisis and includes a security guarantee that will bind both countries closely together.

Wong said the deal was the “most important step any Australian government has taken in the Pacific since the independence of Papua New Guinea”.

– with Australian Associated Press