<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="http://9news.com.au/australia" rel="" target="" title="Australia"><span>Australia</span></a><span> has joined with more than two dozen other nations to urgently declare "the </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/israel-hamas-conflict" rel="" target="" title="war in Gaza"><span>war in Gaza</span></a><span> must end now", saying the suffering of civilians had reached "new depths".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Foreign Minister </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/penny-wong" rel="" target="" title="Penny Wong"><span>Penny Wong</span></a><span> and her counterparts from the UK, France, New Zealand and 24 other countries released a statement late on Monday calling Israel's "denial of essential humanitarian assistance" to Gazan civilians "unacceptable" and demanding the country comply with its international humanitarian law obligations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity," the foreign ministers and the European Union commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management said in a joint statement.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/israel-hamas-conflict-razan-abu-zaher-aged-4-dies-of-hunger-in-gaza-after-food-supply-throttled/77d1016f-dd3b-4254-b38d-d8a7ad583368"><strong><span>Razan clung to life for 39 days. She died of hunger aged just 4</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span></span></strong><span>"We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The group, which also condemned Hamas' continued detention of hostages, called for Israel to lift aid restrictions and work with the United Nations and non-governmental organisations. Hundreds of Palestinians trying to access aid have been killed near sites run by a controversial US- and Israel-backed aid group and other, unrelated distribution centres.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/israel-gaza-update-australian-foreign-minister-penny-wong-and-international-counterparts-call-for-end-to-war/175a4f6a-3cc0-414f-aba7-961327744867" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN's World Food Program on Sunday accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory's Health Ministry said was </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/israel-gaza-update-palestinians-seeking-aid-killed-in-gaza-as-israel-widens-its-evacuation-orders/a0fd9122-9227-45c6-abb8-62d85ba6fb95" rel="" target="" title="one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in more than 21 months of war"><span>one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in more than 21 months of war</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat" but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a contractor supported by Israel and the US, has said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The foreign ministers also addressed plans Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz outlined earlier this month to pack hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a closed zone of the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He called it a "humanitarian city" but human rights groups feared it would create catastrophic conditions that force Palestinians to flee. Many people, including former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, likened the plan to a concentration camp.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law," Wong and her international counterparts said on Monday night.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a 'humanitarian city' are completely unacceptable. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The foreign ministers also spoke out against the E1 settlement plan announced by Israel's Civil Administration and settlement building in the West Bank.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They warned their countries were "prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," they said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The death toll in Gaza has climbed to more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN estimates 90 per cent of the population has been displaced and a similar percentage of structures have been damaged or destroyed. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel on Monday widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>- Reported with Associated Press.</span></em><span></span></div></div>