Dubai: US President Joe Biden used his eight-hour visit to Tel Aviv to broker a deal between Israel and Egypt to allow 20 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza as early as Friday. At the same time, he backed intelligence blaming a Palestinian group for a devastating hospital blast.
His visit was followed by that of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who welcomed the opening of the humanitarian corridor into Gaza and vowed to stand by Israel in its “darkest hour”.
“We absolutely support Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after Hamas, to take back hostages,” Sunak said in remarks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. From Israel, he planned to fly to Saudi Arabia for crisis talks.
Outrage over the Tuesday explosion that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians has reverberated around the globe, including in Australia where Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic accused Israel of collectively punishing Palestinians in its war on Hamas.
Husic told the ABC he felt “very strongly” that Palestinians were paying “for Hamas’ barbarism”.
“I really do feel there is an obligation on governments, particularly the Israeli government, to … follow the rules of international law and to observe in particular that innocents should be protected,” he said.
Read the article by Lucy Cormack in The Sydney Morning Herald.