Penny Wong has used a meeting with Palestinian officials to double down on her government’s desire to see a two-state solution.
A long-held policy of the Labor Party, the Foreign Affairs minister told Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh that the Albanese government recognised the enclave’s aspirations for statehood.
The pair met in Ramallah, a day after Australia announced more than $21m in humanitarian aid for Gaza and the West Bank.
She told reporters that the biggest takeout from her meeting was “remembering our common humanity”.
“This is a region, a conflict, which is complex and difficult. But actually, ultimately, Israelis and Palestinians want very similar things – they all want peace, security dignity and the ability to live their lives in peace,” Senator Wong said.
More than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its military response to Hamas’s surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Palestinian authorities.
Australia has pledged a total of $46 million for aid agencies working directly in the occupied Palestinian territories and for refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, where many Palestinians have fled.
Senator Wong said she has used talks with both Israeli and Palestinian officials to advocate for a cause towards peace and urge for the protection of civilian life.
“Australians are concerned with the humanitarian situation in Gaza which is dire and that we want to see civilians protected and we want to see humanitarian access – and we encourage the increase in humanitarian assistance going in,” she said.
The minister said that a path to peace would be challenging and argued Hamas had “no place” in the future governance arrangements in Gaza.
She also disagreed with assertions that advocating in favour of a ceasefire indicated a lack of support for Israel’s right to defend itself.
“We have been consistent in Israel having a right to self-defence,” Senator Wong said.
“What we have also said is how it conducts itself in the pressing of that right and the execution of that right matters.”
The foreign minister will travel to Abu Dhabi on Thursday to continue her diplomatic tour of the Middle East.