Australia announces additional $10M aid for Gaza

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Australia Wednesday announced an additional aid of $10 million for Gaza, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backing a cease-fire deal in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Calling for a “long term solution,” Albanese said in an interview with ABC News Radio: “This war needs to stop.”

“And a ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States and now adopted by the UN Security Council is positive leadership from the United States,” he said.

“It is a plan that we fully support. We need to see an end to the conflict. We need to see the hostages released and we need to see a plan for the infrastructure and for rebuilding of basic facilities there in Gaza,” the prime minister said.

With the latest $10 million additional aid which will go through the World Food Program, Albanese said Australia has provided “some $72.5 million in humanitarian assistance for Gaza to respond to what is a refugee crisis in the region.”

“And we know that that requires two states, Israel and Palestine, with people being able to live in peace and security side by side, with prosperity able to be achieved,” said the prime minister.

The additional humanitarian assistance was announced by Anne Aly, the Australian youth minister, at an international conference convened by Egypt, Jordan and the UN in Amman on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Israel must allow aid to flow at scale, as ordered by the International Court of Justice,” Aly said. “The suffering of Palestinian civilians cannot continue.”