Australia, NZ, Canada Call for ICJ Response from Israel, Gaza Ceasefire 

Israeli military troops prepare near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli military troops prepare near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Australia, NZ, Canada Call for ICJ Response from Israel, Gaza Ceasefire 

Israeli military troops prepare near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli military troops prepare near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and asked Israel to respond to a United Nations court which last week ruled its occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal. 

"Israel must listen to the concerns of the international community," the leader's statement said. 

"The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law. Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas. It must end." 

The leaders also said Israel needed to hold extremist settlers accountable for ongoing acts of violence against Palestinians, reverse its settlement program in the West Bank and work towards a two-state solution. 

Israel's embassy in Australia on Thursday said it condemned acts of violence against Palestinian communities. 

Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. 

The leader's statement called on Israel to "respond substantively" to the ICJ. 

Israel's foreign ministry last week rejected the ICJ opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations. 

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem - areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians want for a state - in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them. 

Israeli leaders argue the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory. 

The joint statement, the second since February, expressed concern about escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah and said the risk of a wider regional war made a ceasefire in Gaza all the more urgent. 

The statement came hours after US Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden. 



Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.