Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, tens of thousands of people across south-west Sydney marked the beginning of Ramadan, a month in which Muslims put themselves in the shoes of those who are going without, fasting from sunrise to sunset. However, Ramadan this year is different for many in my community. It will be a much more solemn month, overshadowed as Israel's military operation enters its sixth month, causing one of the largest humanitarian crises of the 21st century.

The level of destruction that we are seeing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is harrowing. One-point-seven million people in Gaza have been displaced, and the death toll now sits at more than 31,000. More than 12,000 of those are children. Children are dying of malnutrition. This is unacceptable. More children have been killed in Gaza in the last five months than in all conflicts worldwide in the past four years. Gaza has now become the most dangerous place in the world if you are a child, according to UNICEF.

Israel must let in more humanitarian aid. There are tonnes of supplies sitting at crossings, being denied access by the Israeli government. There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and there must be an enduring two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state. This is the bare minimum needed to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.