Israel-Hamas conflict as it happened: pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne, Israel strikes Gaza again

Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters holding Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs have descended on Victoria’s State Library chanting “Free Palestine” and “We are all Palestinians”, amid a strong police presence.

People hugged and cried, holding placards and signs reading “Israel stop killing Palestinians now!” and “Tell Albo don’t support Israeli terror”. Many wore traditional keffiyeh headdresses and chanted “Allahu Akbar”, meaning God is greatest in Arabic.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said any racists and those holding antisemitic views would be told to leave and never come back to a pro-Palestinian protest.

A speaker addressing the crowd said: “We do not support our government’s stance to support with Israel unconditionally.”

The crowd responded with chants of “shame, shame”.

Federal MP and Greens leader Adam Bandt said Israel’s attacks on Gaza were collective punishment and a war crime.

“Right now in Gaza there are over 2 million people, predominantly children, being starved, dehydrated and bombed,” Bandt said.

“We mourn the 1400 Israelis who lost their lives but also the 4000 Palestinians who lost their lives.”

Protester Inas Mahboub, an Egyptian Australian, said she wanted to show her support for Palestinians.

“I lived in Egypt and I can see how the media is not hearing the Palestinian side, especially in the West,” she said.

“The West needs to condemn the slaughtering of Palestinians including women and children by Israel right now. We need to see an immediate ceasefire and civilians should not have to pay the price.”

The rally comes after thousands gathered at Sydney Town Hall on Saturday amid a heavy police presence.

An estimated 15,000 people attended the pro-Palestinian event, carrying Palestinian flags and placards with messages such as “Justice for Palestine”, “End the Gaza Blockade” and “It’s not war, it’s genocide”.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said the international community must avoid an escalation in the war and devise a road map towards a two-states solution.

Speaking at a Cairo international summit for peace, Meloni warned against the conflict in Gaza becoming a “much wider conflict, a religious war, a clash of civilisations”.

“I have the impression that this was the real aim of the Hamas attack, not to defend the rights of the Palestinian people, but an attack that would create an unbridgeable gap between the Palestinians and the Israelis, meaning that the target is all of us, and we cannot fall into this trap, which would be very stupid,” she said.

The Italian prime minister met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo to discuss the need to strive for a de-escalation and for a two-state solution with a clear time frame, referring to the idea of establishing two separate and independent states, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians.

“I hope that there is a responsibility on the part of the whole international community, and it seems to me that there is, to speed up this process and provide a structural solution to the conflict,” Meloni said.

She then travelled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Netanyahu said they had to “defeat this barbarism”.

“Hamas, I said in the UN 10 years ago, almost a decade ago, Hamas is ISIS. People didn’t believe me. Now they know it’s actually worse than ISIS, as President Biden said, and [German] Chancellor Scholz said that Hamas are the new Nazis,” he wrote on X.

An Israeli aerial strike hit the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, killing two Palestinians and wounding several others, Palestinian medics said.

Israeli military says the compound beneath the mosque was being used by operatives from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to organise attacks.

It’s the second air strike to hit the West Bank in recent days. Israel Defence Forces and the security agency Shin Bet confirmed the aerial strike in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“The IDF & ISA just conducted an aerial strike on Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist compound in the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin,” it read.

The IDF claimed the mosque was used as a command centre to plan and execute terrorist attacks against civilians.

At least 84 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces, Palestinian officials say.

The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said the strike hit an area near Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian militant stronghold in the territory.

On Thursday, Israel’s military said it raided and carried out an air strike in a refugee camp in the central city of Tulkarm. Palestinians said at least 12 were killed.

Reuters

Doctors Without Borders says Gaza’s healthcare system is facing collapse, with hospitals overwhelmed and lacking resources.

The global medical and humanitarian organisation wrote on social media on Saturday that it recently made a large donation of medical stock, including medicines, narcotics and medical equipment to Al Shifa hospital, the main surgical facility on the strip.

The group’s warning comes after Medhat Abbas, an official with the Gaza health ministry, said early on Saturday that five hospitals had stopped functioning and two others were partly out of service.

A nurse with the aid group in Gaza, Loay Harb, said that when the supplies were delivered to the hospital, she and others “saw hundreds of people taking shelter and it was difficult to walk inside.”

The first 20-truck convoy of humanitarian aid that reached Gaza on Saturday was declared “far from enough” by UN agencies.

In a joint statement, the World Health Organisation, the World Food Program and others said more than 1.6 million people were in need.

“Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate and being denied their right to protection, food, water and healthcare,” the statement said.

With AP

US President Joe Biden has spoken with freed American hostages who were held by Hamas in Gaza.

The White House released a video of Biden speaking with mother Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, who were released on Saturday.

“I’m just delighted we’re able to get you out. We’ve been working on it a long time. We’re going to get them all out, God willing,” Biden said.

“I hope you’re both not only feeling good but in good health as well.”

The pair had travelled to Israel from their home in Chicago to celebrate the Simchat Torah Jewish holiday.

They were kidnapped as Hamas launched its offensive in southern Israel on October 7.

The women, who were taken from Nahal Oz kibbutz, near the Gaza border, were taken to a military base in central Israel.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham believes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces – should formally be designated as a terrorist organisation in Australia.

Speaking to Insiders host David Speers on ABC TV on Sunday morning, Birmingham said it was “evident that bad faith actors don’t get better with time”.

“Iran sadly has an even longer track record [than Hamas] in many ways of human rights abuses against its own people, of mobilising terrorist activities such as Hamas or Hezbollah – so we ought to be looking at the types of actions we ought to be taking,” he said.

Birmingham said Australia should be working “as comprehensively as we can” with other nations to ensure the sanctions regime was as tight as possible against Iran “to ensure we limit their capacity to spread evil, to spread terror and ultimately supporting the many brave Iranian people who have sought to see a change of regime in that country”.

Speers asked Birmingham if he believed Israel was engaging in collective punishment of Palestinian citizens, as suggested by Industry Minister Ed Husic and Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly.

He said Israel was not.

“Israel is seeking to disable Hamas and its ability to operate as a terrorist threat. That is something we should continue to support, while of course wanting to see Israel operate in ways that protect innocent lives as much as possible.”

The president of a Detroit synagogue was found stabbed to death on Saturday outside her home.

Samantha Woll, 40, was an adviser to Democratic politicians and president of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. Her death in the city’s Lafayette Park neighbourhood was confirmed by the synagogue on Facebook.

“We are shocked and saddened to learn of the unexpected death of Samantha Woll, our board president. At this point we do not have more information, but will share more when it becomes available. May her memory be a blessing,” the post states.

The Detroit Police Department confirmed the body of a woman was found in the 1300 block of Joliet Place in Detroit, where a trail of blood led to her home.

Police are investigating and there’s no assertion that the death was related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin said in a post on X that she and her team were heartbroken.

“Sam worked for me from nearly the moment I became a congresswoman, helping us set up the office and helping to lead it for my full first term,” she posted.

With Reuters

Thousands are expected to attend a pro-Palestinian rally at the State Library of Victoria at midday.

Greens leader Adam Bandt is expected to speak at the Keep Fighting for Gaza: Free Palestine rally, organised by social justice group Free Palestine Melbourne, and call for an end to war on Gaza.

Vigils, forums and protests have been held across the country, including in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Hobart on Saturday.

An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people gathered for a peaceful rally at Sydney Town Hall on Saturday, carrying Palestinian flags and placards such as “Justice for Palestine” and “It’s not war, it’s genocide”.

More than 830 police watched as speakers expressed strong condemnation of Israel, but warned the crowd not to burn flags, set off flares or cover their faces.

NSW Premier Chris Minns pleaded for calm before the rally, saying a repeat of earlier antisemitic protests in front of the Opera House would be ruinous for Sydney and its multicultural, multifaith community.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin expressed concern about some of the messages chanted by demonstrators.

“Their calls for the ‘liberation’ of Palestine ‘from the river to the sea’ is an unambiguous call for Israel’s destruction and the support for a new intifada is a call for the murder of more civilians,” he said.

The Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network is also advertising events for Wednesday at the National Press Club in Canberra and at Federation Square in Melbourne on Friday.

With Andrew Taylor