The Jewish Council of Australia, which was formed in February 2024, has condemned Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gazan Palestinians trying to access food.
‘In the midst of escalating bombing by Israel and Iran, and as the region braces for a wider devastating conflict, yesterday was the deadliest day for Palestinians brazenly killed at aid sites in Gaza,’ they said in yesterday’s press release.
‘In Khan Younis (Tueday, 17 June, 2025), Israeli artillery fire killed 59 Palestinians and wounded over 200 as they awaited food aid. Israel has repeatedly blocked humanitarian agencies from distributing food, and has then fired on people trying to access food – as occurred in the “Flour Massacre” in February 2024, when more than 100 Palestinians were killed while trying to collect food.
‘These attacks are not isolated; they follow a disturbing pattern of violence against civilians in desperate need of food after the imposition of a deliberate blockade by Israel,’ they stated.
Israeli forces have killed at least 397 Palestinian civilians in Gaza and injured over 3,000 at or near food distribution sites since late May 2025.
‘The massacre in Khan Younis – where 59 people were killed whilst trying to get food for their families – is not a tragedy, it’s a war crime,’ said Sarah Schwartz, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia.
‘As Jews, we cannot watch Palestinians starved, concentrated into zones to be shot with impunity, and not remember our own history. The Australian government must urgently act.’
The Jewish Council of Australia is calling on the Australian government to:
- Unequivocally condemn these attacks and the deliberate creation of famine in Gaza
- Dispatch an Australian diplomatic mission to accompany humanitarian convoys waiting to enter Gaza
- End all forms of military cooperation and arms trade with Israel
- Support international accountability mechanisms, including investigations into war crimes
‘The establishment of aid distribution zones, run by private military contractors, where displaced Palestinians are concentrated under dire conditions, evokes painful historical memories,’ they state in their PR.
‘As Jewish people, we are acutely aware of the horrors of the Nazi-era ghettos, where Jewish communities were forcibly confined, deprived of resources, and subjected to systematic violence.’
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