Nakba Day

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (15:35): Tomorrow, the Palestinian diaspora will be commemorating the anniversary of the Nakba. May 15 is an annual day of mourning for Palestinians who commemorate the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba. In Arabic, Al Nakba means 'the catastrophe'. It refers to the intentional destruction of Palestinian society and the violent expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homeland for the purposes of expanding the state of Israel. Entire villages were destroyed, families separated and those forced to flee have continually been denied their right to return.

Last year, I spoke about the history of this day. I spoke about how the Nakba is not an isolated event but rather a systematic pattern of behaviour. It is a pattern that continues to this day. It has been a year since I gave that speech in parliament and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has only continued to worsen. Since 7 October, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed and over two million people are trapped under an illegal blockade, cut off from food, clean water, electricity, medical care and the basic materials they need to survive.

I know that many Australians feel hopeless about this conflict, who feel outraged but do not know what to do to help. Today, I would like to draw attention to the organisations and people that have devoted themselves to providing aid to the people of Gaza. Organisations like Human Appeal Australia have boots on the ground in Gaza, providing direct help to the injured and the displaced. Their Gaza emergency campaign has provided paramedics, medical supplies and hygiene packs to the largest hospitals in the region and worked on the renovation of hospitals. Thousands of food parcels, hot meals, bread portions, baby milk tins, vegetable hampers and over 45 million litres of clean desalinated water have been distributed to displaced families by their team in Gaza. They have raised over $1 million in Adelaide alone.

Despite the danger and the challenges, UNRRA, UNICEF, Oxfam International, Save the Children, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society have continued to deliver vital assistance. Australian doctors and healthcare workers have been volunteering their skills to the people of Gaza with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association, Medecins Sans Frontieres or other organisations. They have described the situation on the ground as 'catastrophic', 'a prison' and 'hell on earth'. They share horrifying stories of surgeries performed without pain relief in crumbling hospitals with little to no resources.

We should remember that those doctors and healthcare workers, as well as other aid workers, are risking their lives by being there, by providing help. Israeli forces have deliberately targeted hospitals during their offensive and in April destroyed the last fully functioning hospital in Gaza. More than 400 aid workers and over 1,300 health workers have been reported killed in Gaza since October 2023, despite the requirement under international humanitarian law for humanitarian workers to be protected.

The recent killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers whose bodies were found buried in a mass grave triggered global outrage, but many violations and attacks go unreported. We cannot forget the charity organisation World Central Kitchen. Seven of its international aid workers killed by an Israeli strike, including Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, were helping to deliver food and other supplies to northern Gaza.

This year, Israeli authorities took a deliberate decision to block all aid. This month, they announced plans to move thousands of hungry Palestinians from the north of Gaza and confine them in six encampments where aid and food can be distributed by private security. This is not a true aid plan. Providing aid to the suffering is one of the best parts of human nature. It is not a bargaining chip, a pressure tactic or a means of control. It is plans like this that lead us to say that the Nakba never ended.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who risked their life to help the people in Gaza and those who contributed to aid efforts, and I say once again that I stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their struggle for self-determination.