Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his government’s support for a two-state solution in the Middle East on Wednesday, following United States President Donald Trump’s unexpected announcement of plans to take control of Gaza.
“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year,” Albanese told a news conference.
“The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution,” Australia’s PM said despite Trump’s vow to ‘take over’ Gaza Strip.
Trump’s Gaza Takeover Plan
Trump on Tuesday, during a joint conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza where Israel’s military assault in the last 16 months has killed tens of thousands, after he earlier suggested that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” he said.
The idea was condemned by experts and rights advocates.
Trump’s earlier comments that Palestinians should move to Egypt and Jordan were already rejected publicly by Palestinian leaders and leaders of the Arab world while being condemned by human rights advocates as amounting to a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
Rubio Supports Trump’s Plan
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday night voiced support for President Donald Trump’s proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza, emphasising that the Palestinian territory must be cleared of the Islamist group Hamas.
While Trump had floated suggestions of Palestinian displacement since January 25, statements issued since by Rubio’s State Department on its websites after the top U.S. diplomat’s subsequent calls with regional leaders did not explicitly mention Trump’s suggestion.
Trump did not offer much detail in his Tuesday proposal. Rubio’s post also did not elaborate further.
Israel-Hamas Conflict
U.S. ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed over 47,000 Palestinians in the last 16 months, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(With inputs from Reuters)
