A survey commissioned by a coalition of humanitarian aid agencies has shown that more than 80% of Australians are in favor of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
In an ABC News interview on 27th February 2024, Lyn Morgain, Oxfam’s CEO, emphasised that the survey results showed that the Australian community wants the Albanese government to do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
She said the first priority is a permanent ceasefire. “Absolutely nothing else”, she said, “can happen without that.” The survey results, she said, “were an indication that people really can’t tolerate what they’re seeing on their screens and neither should they.”
It was stressed that “starvation is outlawed as a weapon of conflict, yet it was perfectly clear that at least 1.4, probably closer to 2 million people, are at imminent risk of starvation.” Given these dire circumstances, Lyn Morgain urged the Albanese government to immediately resume the funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA) in order to avert mass starvation.
Lyn Morgan also emphasised that there are rules to war which Israel has been clearly violating. In particular, mention was made of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its recent finding that there was a risk of genocide occurring in Gaza.
While the Albanese government was fully aware of this humanitarian crisis and the ICJ’s finding, it was claimed that it had failed so far to take necessary steps to address the Israeli imposed humanitarian catastrophe.
In particular, Lyn Morgain said that while Australia may not be selling particular weapons of war to Israel, Australia was definitely involved in that trade. “Australians”, she said, “are very conscious of that and they would like to be very certain that Australia was on the right side of the ICJ’s findings.”
Overall, it was stated that the Albanese government “could be more strenuous in its efforts to ensure that international humanitarian law is adhered to during this terrible conflict.”
Refer to the video above for the full interview with Lyn Morgain.