Australians are being urged to take the first available flight out of Israel with the situation in the Middle East “rapidly deteriorating”, as the federal government monitors the threat of attacks on home soil.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said there were 46 Australians trapped in Gaza with limited access to water, electricity, fuel and food after Israel imposed a total blockade following attacks by Hamas from the territory on October 7.
Around 1200 people in the conflict zone are in contact with the government receiving updates about returning home.
Ms O’Neil urged Australians to leave as soon as they can and not to wait for other options.
“The situation in the Middle East is deteriorating rapidly … take the first flight that is offered to you and get back to Australia as quickly as you can,” she said on Seven’s Sunrise on Wednesday.
Australia’s terror threat level remained the same, but the government was vigilant and focused on domestic security, she said.
“I’m confident that we can get through this in the peaceful manner in which we resolve things as Australian citizens, but please know that we are watching very, very closely and carefully,” Ms O’Neil said.
“I want Australians to think about the duties to each other as citizens at a time like this.
“We’ve got a beautiful multicultural country here because people think and care for one another as neighbours, and we just need to take that attitude with us as we go forward.”
There were emotional reunions at Sydney airport after a Qatar Airways flight from Dubai carrying more than 200 people, including Australians and dual-citizens, landed in Sydney on Tuesday evening.
Some of them were collected from Israel on government flights on Monday while others left Tel Aviv on the weekend.
A Qantas flight departed London on Tuesday night, Australian time, and was due to land in Sydney on Wednesday night, carrying another 200 people.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the humanitarian situation in the region was “dire,” with continued efforts underway for those stranded to be able to cross the border out of Gaza.
“The situation for Australians in Gaza and their families at home is deeply distressing,” she told parliament on Tuesday.
“We are doing all we can to support the work of the United States, of Egypt and others to make the Rafah border crossing open for humanitarian purposes, including the passage of civilians.
“Regrettably, efforts to secure passage have not yet been successful, despite many attempts.”
About 500 Palestinians have been killed in a blast at a Gaza hospital that Palestinian health authorities say was caused by an Israeli air strike but the Israeli military blamed on a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian militant group.
The blast was the bloodiest single incident in Gaza since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign against the densely populated territory in retaliation for a deadly cross-border Hamas assault on southern Israeli communities on October 7.
It took place on the eve of a visit by US President Joe Biden to Israel to show support for the country in its war with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Arab countries, Iran and Turkey swiftly condemned the attack. The Palestinian prime minister called it “a horrific crime, genocide” and said countries backing Israel also bore responsibility.
Hamas said the bombing mostly killed people left homeless by Israel bombardments, and that the dead included patients, women and children.
“There are scores of dismembered and crushed bodies, baths of blood,” said Izzat El-Reshiq, a senior Hamas member.
Video obtained by Reuters showed several full ambulances arriving at another Gaza hospital carrying people injured at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital. One man was staggering, bleeding heavily from the head. A boy was being carried on a stretcher.
Israel’s military denied responsibility for the attack, saying military intelligence suggested the hospital was hit by a failed rocket launch by the enclave’s Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
“An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit,” a representative for the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement.
In Washington, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports about the hospital being hit but had no details. The Pentagon, which has sent five C-17 aircraft with military assistance to Israel so far, reiterated that there were no preconditions on the aid being provided and added: “We expect all democracies like Israel to uphold the law of war.”
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that controls Gaza after Hamas gunmen killed 1300 people, mainly civilians, during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 7 – the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.
Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, halting food, fuel and medical supplies, which are rapidly running out.
Scores of trucks carrying vital supplies for Gaza headed towards the Rafah crossing in Egypt on Tuesday, the only access point to the coastal enclave outside Israel’s control, but there was no clear indication that they would be able to enter.
Earlier on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Israel to show solidarity with the country following attacks from Hamas.
Scholz said on Tuesday that “Germany stands firmly by Israel’s side,” in a post on X.
The German chancellor is the second head of government to visit the country since the Hamas attack 10 days ago, after Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu arrived in Israel earlier on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s planned visit at the end of hours of talks with Netanyahu, in which he said Netanyahu had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians.
He gave no details.
Biden will “hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people” when he visits on Wednesday, Blinken said.
He will also hear how Israel will carry out operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and lets humanitarian aid into Gaza to help civilians “in a way that does not benefit Hamas”.
Since the most recent events Biden has cancelled his visit.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said only about 14 per cent of Gazans had access to water through a single pipe to Khan Younis that Israel allowed to open for three hours on Monday.
Concerns about dehydration and diseases were high as water and sanitation services had collapsed.
“People will start dying without water,” UNRWA said.
Israel says 199 hostages were taken to Gaza during the militants’ raid.
Hamas released a video of one French-Israeli hostage, Maya Schem, calling on world leaders to help her and other captives get home.
Source: AAP
