Wong\u2019s Thursday meeting with Amir Maimon was requested by the Israeli embassy, according to federal government sources, and took place inside Wong\u2019s office at Parliament House in Canberra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting was held days after Australia joined 27 other countries in condemning Israel for denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, Wong said the decision to sign the statement reflected the \u201cconcern\u201d and \u201cdistress\u201d Australians felt from seeing the images of starving Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Thursday discussion followed another meeting between Maimon and lower-level foreign affairs officials in Canberra earlier in the week, as reported by the Nine Newspapers.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Australian sources said Wong repeated her public criticism of Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza during the meeting with Maimon. This included a request for Israel to comply with international law and ensure enough food was being provided to Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wong\u2019s office declined to comment on the meeting, and the Israeli embassy has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before both meetings took place, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, accused Israel of \u201cclearly\u201d breaching international law and said Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government was \u201closing support\u201d internationally<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After those comments, Wong said: \u201cIt is forbidden to withhold aid from civilians, that is not consistent with international law, but actually, just as importantly, it\u2019s morally the wrong thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier in the week, a select group of journalists attended a briefing at the Israeli embassy where Israel\u2019s deputy ambassador, Amir Meron, reportedly said: \u201cWe don\u2019t recognise any famine or any starvation in the Gaza Strip<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, Albanese said that statement was \u201cbeyond comprehension<\/a>\u201d and raised concerns about Israel restricting journalists from visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dozens of Palestinians have died of hunger in recent weeks in a crisis attributed by the UN and other humanitarian organisations to Israel\u2019s blockade of almost all aid into the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Israeli-based rights groups this week declared that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, with reports citing evidence including the weaponisation of hunger. B\u2019tselem described an \u201cofficial and openly declared policy\u201d of mass starvation.skip past newsletter promotion<\/a> after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, Australia joined 14 other countries<\/a> in describing the recognition of Palestine as \u201can essential step towards the two-state solution\u201d, linking progress on statehood to the upcoming United Nations general assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Albanese also criticised calls for further actions against Israel as \u201cslogans\u201d as he faced intensifying pressure from his MPs, Labor members and the Greens to reconsider his position on the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has so far stopped short of matching his UK counterpart Keir Starmer\u2019s promise to recognise the state of Palestine in September<\/a> unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve said is that it\u2019s not the timeline, that\u2019s not what we\u2019re looking at. What we\u2019re looking at is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states,\u201d Albanese said on Wednesday, a day before Wong met Maimon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Albanese](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c51034e01a63545f58a50a515779556243a23f40\/53_14_1695_953\/1695.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")