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Labor MP Josh Burns,right,on a cross-parliamentary trip to Israel.

His comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted defiantly to Wednesday’s votein favour of a ceasefireby153 nations,including Australia,declaring:“We’ll continue until the end,until victory,until the elimination of Hamas.”

Burns,who has previously opposed an immediate ceasefire on the grounds it would allow Hamas to regroup and stage further terror attacks,said:“It doesn’t matter how many resolutions the United Nations passes:the only way out of this terrible situation is for the hostages to be released and for Hamas to be removed from power in Gaza.”

Burns said he had witnessed the “deep trauma” Israel suffered when Hamas launched a surprise attack on October 7,including during a visit to the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border thatsuffered one of the worst massacres.

“Any ceasefire cannot be one-sided and must be negotiated between the two parties,” he said in an interview with this masthead.

“The war won’t end by wishing for it to happen.”

Burns said he wanted to see an end to the “dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza and supported more negotiated pauses like theone in November to allow for the release of hostages taken captive from Israel,and the entry of more aid into Gaza.

“Any resolution that doesn’t address Hamas’s role in the conflict is clearly unrealistic,” he said.

“During our visit,we have seen first-hand the impact of what Hamas did on October 7 and have watched CCTV footage of them killing civilians with machine guns.”

After visiting a detention centre in southern Israel where the Israeli military is interrogating Hamas prisoners,Netanyahu said he was committed to pushing ahead with the war.

“There is no question at all,” he said. “I say this in light of great pain,but also in light of international pressure. Nothing will stop us.”

Ismail Haniyeh,the chair of Hamas’s political bureau,said in a televised speech in Qatar:“Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion.”

A spokesman for the Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire group welcomed the UN vote:“It is increasingly clear that the Australian Jewish community does not unanimously support the actions of the Israeli government.

“Our Jewish values are incompatible with the unjustified cruelty and reckless disregard for human life and dignity that the Israeli government continues to show.”

Australia/Israel&Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said Australia should have joined the 10 countries that opposed the UN resolution,or the 23 that abstained because it did not call on Hamas to lay down its arms.

“While everyone is concerned about the humanitarian situation of Gaza civilians and wants to see their plight ameliorated,the best way to end that suffering is to bring the war to a sustainable conclusion as rapidly as possible – meaning Hamas must be disarmed – even while stepping up efforts to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza,something Israel has promised to facilitate,” he said.

The resolution was welcomed by the top Palestinian representative to Australia and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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