The Australian government is sending a “significant contingent” of aircraft and supporting troops to the Middle East on standby in the event “this gets worse”, as the death toll from Israel airstrikes passed 5,700.
The acting prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, appeared across multiple media outlets on Wednesday morning to announce two additional RAAF planes and support troops were being flown to the Middle East “as a contingency”.
Marles would not say where in the region Australia would base its troops, or how many, but told the ABC a C-17 transporter and a KC-30 tanker would join an existing aircraft on standby, in the event Australians across the wider Middle East needed sudden evacuation.
“We’re not identifying where they will be, but the point of this is to provide support to Australian populations who are in the Middle East, if this gets worse, in essence,” he said.
“It’s a volatile situation. We very much hope it doesn’t. We hope that this is confined to Israel and Gaza but, you know, we are all watching this, as the world is watching this, and we want to make sure that we’re prepared if matters get worse.”
Marles said Australians who in countries surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, such as Lebanon, should leave if given the opportunity.
“Take the commercial options that are available to you and make your departure,” he said. “This is a volatile situation. We don’t exactly know how this is going to play out. We, as a government, will do what we can but, if you want to leave, make sure that you take your opportunities now.”
Nearly 6,000 people, mostly civilians, including more than 2,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the Gaza ministry of health. There are at least 79 Australian citizens in Gaza who still have no clear way of leaving the besieged region, as the border crossing with Egypt remains largely closed.
Marles acknowledged it was “difficult” for the Australians in Gaza but said the government was still working to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow foreign nationals to leave.
“We don’t have that in place yet, although, obviously, we have seen humanitarian supplies be brought in through Rafah, which is the entry point from Egypt,” he said.
“We’re very much encouraging those people to get to the southern part of Gaza in accordance with the warnings that have been made by Israel but we are in touch with those Australians and we will continue to be doing everything within our power to try and make a pathway for them to safety.”
Israel cut fuel, food, water and medicine to Gaza in response to the Hamas assault that killed 1,400 people and took more than 220 hostage.
Small amounts of humanitarian aid have been allowed to enter Gaza after negotiations with US president Joe Biden, but aid agencies have described it as a “drop in the ocean” compared with what is needed for the 2.2 million people trapped in Palestine. Calls for a “humanitarian” ceasefire have so far been blocked by Israel’s allies, including the US.
Marles maintained that Israel “has a right to defend itself”. Last week his cabinet colleague Ed Husic said he believed Palestinians were being “collectively punished” for Hamas’s barbarism but Marles said he didn’t have enough information to make that judgment.
“We’ve made our position really clear,” he told ABC radio. “Israel has a right to defend itself and to move against Hamas. What is absolutely essential in doing that is that the protection from the centre and all the steps that Israel takes, and that the rules of war are adhered to and we’ve been making that very clear as well.
“You’re asking me to make a judgment in terms of the rules of war, which can’t be made unless you have all the information available to you and you’re actually the ones making those decisions, which clearly we are not. But what is important is that we make our call very clear that the rules of war must be adhered to, and that the protection of civilian life has to be completely paramount.”
