<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331968</docID> <postdate>2024-10-29 12:19:36</postdate> <headline>Australia decries Israel banning Palestine aid group</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-331969" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241029188268847507-original-resized-e1730157816906.jpg" alt="" width="880" height="614" /></p> <caption>Israel has deemed the UN aid agency to be a terrorist organisation. (AP PHOTO)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Dominic Giannini </b>and<b> Andrew Brown</b> in Canberra</span></p> <div class="wire-column__preview__text" id="preview-body"> <p><strong>Australia has denounced Israel's move to ban a United Nations Palestinian aid organisation from operating as humanitarian groups call for a reversal of the policy.</strong></p> <p>Israel's Knesset passed laws, that won't come into effect immediately, banning the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from working on Israeli soil, deeming it a terror group.</p> <p>Foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain expressed "grave concern" over the law, saying UNRWA provided essential humanitarian aid in Gaza and throughout the region.</p> <p>"UNRWA does life-saving work. Australia opposes the Israeli Knesset's decision to severely restrict UNRWA's work," Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote on X.</p> <p>"Australia again calls on Israel to comply with the binding orders of the (International Court of Justice) to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza."</p> <p>UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the laws would only deepen Palestinian suffering, "especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell".</p> <p>Humanitarian groups Oxfam, ActionAid and the Australian Council for International Development all condemned Israel's move.</p> <p>Vaccinating Gazans against a polio outbreak would be almost impossible without UNRWA's help, ACFID's Naomi Brooks said.</p> <p>"This bill undermines the international humanitarian operation in Gaza, where millions face dehydration, starvation and disease," she said.</p> <p>The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network called the ban a potential death sentence for millions of people as humanitarian aid is throttled in Gaza and the strip's north remains under siege by Israeli forces.</p> <p>APAN and the Greens used the development to renew their calls for sanctions against Israel.</p> <p>Israel has consistently attacked UNRWA after accusing a handful of its staff of participating in Hamas' October 7 attack that killed about 1200 people and resulted in 250 hostages being taken, according to Israeli figures.</p> <p>The organisation fired nine people and there wasn't enough evidence to substantial claims against 10 others after investigations were concluded in August 2024.</p> <p>Israel maintains UNRWA has links to Hamas and the designated terror group uses its infrastructure for operations, both of which the aid agency denies knowingly being involved in, adding it's quick to purge any suspected terror links by staff.</p> <p>Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said workers involved in terrorist activities needed to be held accountable.</p> <p>Israel has called for aid to flow through other organisations, but Australia and humanitarian groups say there are no viable alternatives to replace UNRWA due to its scale and reach.</p> <p>It has about 30,000 employees, including some 13,000 in Gaza.</p> <p>Australia paused humanitarian aid to the UN agency after the allegations were made and only reinstated it following a comprehensive probity agreement and after intelligence agencies confirmed it wasn't a terrorist organisation.</p> <p>The Foreign Affairs Department's Middle East division head Marc Innes-Brown previously warned actors who wanted UNRWA disbanded had made allegations that contained misinformation and "a significant amount of exaggeration".</p> <p>Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Israel's laws were a matter for its parliament, adding the coalition believed "no Australian taxpayer dollars should be at risk of falling into terrorist hands".</p> <p>Aid should be provided to trusted humanitarian organisations, he said.</p> <p>"We recognise the needs of innocent civilians in Gaza are great, support increased humanitarian aid reaching civilians and urge Israel to ensure the free flow of aid to innocent civilians, especially in light of these decisions," he said in a statement.</p> <p>More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel's offensive, according to the local health authority, and thousands more remained buried under rubble or missing.</p> </div> </body>