August 4, 2025 | 07:18 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Australian government announced on Monday, August 4, 2025, an additional financial commitment to humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza. This funding pledge comes just a day after nearly 100,000 Australian citizens participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations in Sydney and Melbourne, advocating for an end to the conflict and famine conditions in Gaza.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Australian Minister for International Development Anne Aly jointly declared that Australia would provide an extra US$20 million in funding for organizations delivering essential food, medical supplies, and other life-saving support within Gaza.
The most recent allocation of funds includes US$6 million for the World Food Programme (WFP) and US$5 million each for UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In a joint statement, Wong and Aly confirmed that this latest package elevates Australia's total humanitarian funding for Gaza to over US$130 million since October 2023.
"Australia has consistently been part of the international call on Israel to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice," Wong said, as quoted by Antara.
She further emphasized that the suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza must end.
In Sydney, an estimated 90,000 individuals participated in the demonstration held on the iconic Harbour Bridge, despite enduring heavy rain and efforts by authorities to disperse the gathering.
Australian Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek remarked to the Seven Network on Monday that Australian citizens aimed to convey a message that the death toll has become unacceptable.
Although several European countries have expressed their intent to recognize the State of Palestine at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September, Australia has not yet articulated a similar intention.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously stated that his government would only recognize the State of Palestine if it represented a "meaningful action."
Last Thursday, Foreign Minister Wong did not dismiss the possibility of Australia making a similar declaration.
She reiterated that this remains a matter of "when, not if," and referred to several developments, including unprecedented steps by Arab League countries to urge Hamas to disarm and relinquish power in Gaza.
"This is something that we are thinking very carefully about," she told ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
"What Canada and the United Kingdom and France and the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League are all seeking to do is work out what we can each do to break the cycle of violence that is consuming the Middle East."
"We cannot continue to stand by and watch what is happening in Gaza and not take the sorts of actions you are seeing. We have to see what we can do as an international community to change the pathway that the region is on," Wong stressed.
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