But they received a phone call shortly after,“telling us that the crossing opening plans have fallen through”.
Ramia Abdo Sultan is a lawyer on the executive committee of the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network,who has been communicating with Australian families of those stranded in Gaza.
She said Palestinian-Australians in Gaza were feeling panicked after 10 days without clear direction from the government or a pathway out of the enclave and feared becoming “collateral damage while stuck at the border”.
After several government-chartered repatriation flights carried about 1200 Australians out of Israel – the most recent of which had empty seats on them,leading the government to pause flights on Tuesday due to low demand – Sultan said Palestinian-Australians in Gaza felt forgotten by the Australian government.
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“The support isn’t really there,it has not been given the same attention[as Australians in Israel],” she said.
She said many of the Australians had travelled to visit family in Gaza before the conflict broke out and were now largely unreachable because of limited access to electricity.
“Their only point of communication is through family members here,and there hasn’t been transparency or clear communication between government and family here to relay that information,” she said.
“They haven’t felt like the government’s priority. From the moment[the Hamas attack on October 7] happened,and we saw an immediate response by the Australian government to evacuate Australians out of Israel,we needed to see intervention.
“We’re 10 days into the issues unfolding in Gaza,and we still don’t have an answer. There’s still not clear direction. It’s concerning.”
Marles said Foreign Minister Penny Wong had been “extremely active on the phones” and was working with the international community to try to establish a safe corridor out of besieged Gaza before an Israeli ground invasion.
“Their situation is obviously extremely difficult,” he said. “It’s obviously a really delicate issue and that diplomacy is continuing at a pace and,where we can,we are lending our voice to all of that.”
Palestinians in Gaza wait to cross to the Egyptian side at the Rafah border on Monday.Credit:AP
The General Delegation of Palestine in Canberra,which is led by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and not affiliated with Hamas in Gaza,in a statement said the Palestinian community in Australia had “huge concerns” for the fate of their loved ones and wanted them to be safely repatriated as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately,while the process of repatriation has been applied to Australians in Israel with relative ease,this is not the case for Australians trapped in the Gaza Strip,” the delegation said.
“Regrettably,Israel’s forced closure of the Rafah crossing is still ongoing,and the Rafah crossing has been repeatedly bombed by Israeli airstrikes.
“This has left countless Palestinians,including Australians and other foreign nationals,waiting in fearful uncertainty to escape from the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel’s relentless onslaught.”
Hundreds of repatriated Australians who left Tel Aviv were due to start arriving in Sydney from Tuesday night on Qantas,Virgin,Qatar and Emirates flights.
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The federal government has now ceased flights for Australians in Israel because of a lack of immediate need,Marles said on Tuesday. Of the 194 people on two flights organised by the government from Tel Aviv on Monday,96 were from other Pacific nations that Australia has agreed to help return home.
“There were empty seats again on the planes last night. They were slightly more full than the night before,” Marles said. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 1300 Israelis and 2800 Palestinians since Hamas launched its October 7 assault on southern Israel.
with Mike Foley
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