Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is standing firm against increasing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state, but says the crisis in Gaza could provide an opportunity for lasting peace.
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Mr Albanese said there was no timeline for Australia to recognise statehood, after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom would do so unless Israel moved to secure a ceasefire and increase humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The UK move comes after France became the first G7 country to say it would recognise Palestine ahead of a United Nations meeting in September.
"What we're looking at is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states," Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
He said he had spoken to his British counterpart overnight and they would speak again in the coming days.
But the prime minister said the war could pave the way for a lasting two-state solution as "sometimes out of a crisis comes a moment of opportunity to actually advance forward in a real way".
Mr Albanese said that while the world was horrified at Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in thousands of deaths and around 200 people being taken hostage, the subsequent war had cost too many innocent lives.
Gaza's health ministry says 60,000 people have been killed during Israel's subsequent counteroffensive.
Israel has restricted food and medical supplies from entering Gaza, where it controls all entry points, to put pressure on Hamas.
International pressure is mounting on the nation state to let in more humanitarian aid, as deaths attributed to malnutrition rise.
Israel has also barred international journalists from entering to independently verify the situation.
It denies there is starvation in the besieged strip despite international human rights groups branding Israel's offensive in Gaza a genocide and attributing deaths to starvation.
"The world looks at what is happening in Gaza and expresses that it is unjustified and that it is a tragedy that the ongoing loss of innocent life, the ongoing impact of the decisions to restrict aid," Mr Albanese said.
Former cabinet minister Ed Husic called for the federal government to seize the "moral momentum" underway and immediately recognise a Palestinian state.
"Australia can lend its great weight to that momentum in making the decision to recognise," the Labor MP said.
US President Donald Trump said he wasn't "in that camp" when asked whether America should put more pressure on Israel to move towards a long-term solution.
"If you do that, you really are rewarding Hamas and I'm not about to do that," Mr Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One, adding that there needed to be more food let into Gaza.
The coalition echoed this with opposition foreign spokeswoman Michaelia Cash saying, "Australia should not reward Hamas with a pathway to statehood while they remain in control of Gaza and continue to hold Israeli hostages".
Mr Husic said recognition could come without legitimising Hamas and may even put pressure on the terrorist group.
"Hamas is built largely on grievance," he said.
"That grievance gets removed with the establishment of a state of Palestine."
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil also called for the immediate recognition, saying, "this can't wait".
"Seeing starvation being used as a weapon of war is completely unacceptable," she said.
"We need to absolutely increase pressure on Israel about this."
Australia joined 14 other countries, including France, the UK and Canada, in a statement to back the recognition of Palestine "as an essential step towards the two-state solution, and invite all countries that have not done so to join this call".
The statement, signed by the 15 foreign ministers, condemned Hamas, which Australia says is a terrorist group, for its attack on Israel in 2023 and called for the release of all hostages and an immediate ceasefire.
It also called for further humanitarian aid and expressed "grave concern over the high number of civilian casualties and humanitarian situation in Gaza".
The ministers welcomed a commitment to reform from within the Palestinian Authority.
Australian Associated Press
