Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the ensuing days after 7 October, I stood up in this place and asked the chamber to imagine what would happen in the event of Israel's invasion on a civilian population of over two million people living in the most densely populated place in the world. Tragically, we are now in the 166th day of Israel's invasion and occupation of Gaza, in what is being referred to as the 'forever war', a war that is arguably the deadliest conflict of the 21st century, resulting in a catastrophic humanitarian emergency.

I want to tell the House what the invasion of Gaza now sadly looks like. Over 30,000 civilians have been killed, with thousands more killed and missing—numbers not counted as they didn't reach hospitals, nearly all of which have been destroyed. Seventy per cent of those thousands missing are children and women. More than 13,000 children have been killed. More than 9,000 women have been killed. Seventy-two per cent of the victims are children and women, with those not killed by the war now dying from acute malnutrition and dehydration. There are 17,000 children who have lost one or both parents.

There are 364 medical crew personnel that have been killed, 48 civil defence personnel that have been killed and 135 journalists that have been killed in the deadliest, most dangerous conflict for journalists in recent history. Two million people have been displaced, with 700,000 infected with infectious diseases due to the forced displacement. There are 60,000 pregnant women and their unborn babies at risk because of a lack of health care, 350,000 chronic patients at risk due to a lack of medication and 10,000 cancer patients facing risk of death.

There are 23 million tonnes of rubble and unexploded ordnance scattered across Gaza. These millions of tonnes of rubble are the remains of the 360,000 residential units either completely or partially destroyed and unfit for habitation.

The Israeli army has targeted 32 hospitals and 208 health centres and healthcare facilities and has destroyed 126 ambulances. There are 405 schools and universities completely or partially destroyed, 514 mosques destroyed and three churches destroyed, including the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, the third-oldest church in the world. Cultural sites have not been spared either, with 200 archaeological and heritage sites destroyed. This devastation is the result of 70,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza, the equivalent of several nuclear bombs.

I now ask this question: What has Israel achieved? What is it achieving, if not the killing and forced starvation of innocent civilians and the destruction of homes and the displacement of people? The Israeli army, with unlimited supply lines, rages against a civilian population that it besieges, kills, displaces and starves. In the midst of all of this human tragedy, there are those who decry the government's decision to resume funding to UNRWA and go further by demanding that UNRWA be defunded altogether. These are the usual suspects that hurl unsubstantiated allegations against the only agency that has the capacity to provide lifesaving support for the Palestinian people.

UNRWA's humanitarian and development mandate is central to the assistance and protection of Palestinian refugees, including those who are victims of this humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. I did not support my government's decision to initially pause funding for UNRWA, and I now welcome the government's unpausing of that funding. Never has UNRWA's job been more urgent and more critical now and moving forward under its international mandate.

The war in Gaza has touched members of my constituency profoundly, both those who have directly had family members killed and those who are appalled and distressed by what is happening there. I want to pay tribute to the extraordinary resilience of those who, despite their losses and profound feelings of grief, have come together to comfort each other and to rally behind the people of Gaza. They have become the voice of those engulfed by this catastrophe. They have built support networks and embraced with compassion those who have come to our electorate from Gaza. I pay tribute to the organisations who stepped up 166 days ago calling for a ceasefire in their advocacy, offering prayers and holding community vigils: Ilim College, MyCentre, Islamic Community Milli Gorus and the countless others in my electorate from across communities who are doing inspiring work and are deserving of our recognition.

This killing has to end. The children and other people of Gaza have a right to life and to a future, and the Palestinian people have to have their right to self-determination realised.