Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has written to the Israeli government to reassert Australia’s grave concerns about civilians trapped in Rafah as Israel forges ahead with a full-scale ground invasion into parts of southern Gaza.
Israeli tanks and soldiers pushed ahead with a seizure of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, prompting thousands to flee and closing the remaining flow of aid coming through the vital entry point through to Egypt.
Mr Albanese, who urged Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on a ground invasion in April, said his government reached out to Israel overnight to express its opposition to plans for a full-scale assault into Rafah city.
“I’ll say this about the Middle East position, which is that the government’s position has been very clear and over the last 24 hours (what) we have done again is to communicate to Israel our opposition for a ground invasion of Rafah,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“We’re concerned about the civilian population that were told to move from the northern part of Gaza that are told to move south.
“You then have a very crowded population and you also have a crowded population that is not clear where they are supposed to given the destruction that’s occurred to housing in other parts of Gaza.”
Mr Albanese said the Australian government had been “very clear” about its long held support for a two-state solution including the right of Israel to exist within secure borders as well as the right of Palestinians to go about their lives in safety and security.
His comments come after US President Joe Biden announced his administration would stop supplying bombs and artillery shells to Israel if launched a major military offensive on Rafah on Wednesday.
Roughly one million people are thought to be sheltering inside the southern city, which has become home to civilians who have been displaced from other parts of Gaza.
The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1200 people.