Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the brutality and suffering that we are witnessing unfolding in Gaza right now. I, like many, many Australians and so many other people around the world, saw those images of starving children splashed across our newspapers and our television screens and in our social media feeds and felt the sickening feeling of seeing a child be just skin and bones—an innocent child.

Using starvation as a weapon of war is illegal, immoral and brutal. There is no justification for starving innocent children or for stopping innocent children and their families from receiving food, aid and clean water. The extremist position of the Netanyahu government that continues to use the innocence of these children as their weapon of war must be called out and must be confronted. There is just no justification for this. One in five children in Gaza are suffering severe malnutrition. Australia must join with countries around the world in not just condemning this but taking action against the brutal forces that are forcing these children to starve. (Time expired)