Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the forced mass starvation and ongoing genocide in Gaza. Israel has killed over 60,000 Palestinians since October 2023, but the number is likely much higher. Just this week, we received a petition with the names of 17,000 children who have been murdered in Gaza. It's utterly heartbreaking. Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers while trying to get the food they need to survive. It's undeniable that Israel is using mass starvation to kill the people of Gaza. There have been at least 147 deaths to date directly attributed to starvation. Most of them were children or infants. My heart breaks for every single one.

Yesterday the Senate passed a motion condemning Israel's aid blockade. It recognised that, without aid, millions of Palestinians risk being plunged further into catastrophic hunger and mass death. This government agrees that Israel is breaching international law, but now it's time to act. For too long, the Albanese government has refused to end our complicity in this genocide. This government has failed to sanction the Israeli security cabinet, which is responsible for carrying out the genocide in Gaza and for the illegal occupation of the West Bank. The Albanese government must impose a sanctions regime against Israel, just as it has done for Russia, for the illegal invasion of Ukraine. We must act in the face of this genocide. Australia needs to sanction Israel, end the two-way arms trade and cut off any funding for the genocide. We won't stop until Palestine is free.