Foreign Minister Penny Wong will tell the UN Security Council Israel needs to follow the rules of war and other countries need to rally to protect all the world’s peoples.
“Israel must comply with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice, including to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale,” she will say on Saturday (AEST).
Wong reiterated that no state “should pretend the rules don’t apply to them.”
“These rules always matter — never more so than in times of conflict — when they help guide us out of darkness, back toward light.”
Wong’s speech comes as sparked by the October 7 assault by Hamas-led militants, and escalating conflict .
Wong repeated Australia’s calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon and in Gaza.
She also repeated calls for an , saying it was the “only hope to finally break the endless cycle of violence” in the Middle East.
Wong said “war has rules — even when confronting terrorists” and “defending borders” and that international humanitarian law must be adhered to in order to limit the suffering of civilians.
She said the United Nations purpose is now, as it originally was, about “saving us from hell”.
Wong said the world is experiencing “more conflict than anytime since World War Two,” and noted “so much of the human family (is) enshrouded in darkness”.
In remarks on Friday (AEST) Wong said that the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Middle East must end and a “path to lasting peace” must be secured.
The comments were made in an address to the security council, of which Australia is not a member. Wong was taking part in an open debate on the maintenance of international peace and security.
She said more than 40,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which came after Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 people were taken hostage.
More than 300 aid workers have also been killed, Wong said. Among them is , who was killed by an Israeli airstrike.
She said Hamas must release the remaining hostages taken during its assault.
Australia lists both Hamas — Gaza’s rulers — and Hezbollah — a Lebanese Islamist political party and militant group that holds just under half the seats in Lebanon’s parliament — as terrorist organisations.
Israel’s PM ‘needs to listen’
On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs to listen to the international community”.
“The calls are very clear when you have the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, other nations all calling for a de-escalation of this conflict,” Albanese said.
“We are very concerned and the world is concerned about the escalation that is continuing here and the consequences for it.”
More than 600 people have been killed since Monday in Israel’s strikes on Lebanon.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles at targets in Israel including its commercial hub Tel Aviv, although Israel’s aerial defence system has ensured that the damage has been limited.
Israel . Israel’s air force says it’s preparing the way for a potential ground assault, and there are heightened fears of an all-out regional war.
With reporting by the Reuters news agency via the Australian Associated Press.