At the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association bi-monthly Committee of Delegates meeting held on 21 May 2024, delegates again discussed the ongoing war in Gaza.
It is clear the horrors being inflicted, and the continuing plight of the hostages, must be ended by the international community. Australia must increase its role in doing so.
Our meeting preceded the recent and inexcusable air strike by the Israeli Defence Force on a Palestinian humanitarian tent camp, killing civilians, including children. Delegates endorsed the following resolution which becomes more urgent by the day:
In noting the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that Hamas has refused to release the remaining hostages, and in noting the further military attacks by Israeli Defence Forces, the deaths from malnutrition, and the collapse of healthcare in Gaza we move that:
The NSWNMA calls on the Federal Government to:
• Do more to compel Israel to enact an immediate ceasefire and to allow aid to flow, and to
• implement sanctions immediately against Israel if it does not enact the above, and to
• cease all military trade with Israel and demand that the US also ceases military trade, and to
• call for Hamas to immediately release all remaining hostages, and to call for Israel to immediately release all Palestinians held in administrative detention, and that we
• welcome the Government’s recommencement of aid funding, and that
• aid funding for humanitarian relief in Gaza be increased, and that
• we welcome the Federal Government’s call for a two-state solution, requiring Israel to withdraw, and for the release of all remaining hostages.
We restate that we call for peace and we stand against war, racism, islamophobia, antisemitism and bigotry of all kinds. That Australia endorse the ICC jurisdiction of processes.
The Association notes, and welcomes, that the Australian Government is respecting the independence of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
As healthcare professionals we cannot remain silent where the human right to health and freedom from harm are being actively ignored. We need the Australian Government to do more to ensure a ceasefire by enacting the calls within our resolution.
