Australia’s foreign minister has hit out at the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency from operating in the nation.

Under the laws, the UN agency will be banned from carrying out work on Israeli soil, deeming UNRWA a terror organisation.

The aid agency is the main organisation providing humanitarian relief to people in war-torn Gaza following the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged for humanitarian assistance to continue in the region.

“UNRWA does life-saving work. Australia opposes the Israeli Knesset’s decision to severely restrict UNRWA’s work,” Senator Wong said on social media.

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“Australia again calls on Israel to comply with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza.”

The comments come after Australia issued a joint statement on Sunday, alongside foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK, which urged Israel not to go through with the UNRWA ban.

“Without its work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care, and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered if not impossible,” the joint statement said.

“It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organisations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively.”

More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to the local health authority, and thousands more remained buried under rubble or missing.

The offensive came after Hamas led an attack on Israel in October 2023, which killed 1200 people and saw 250 taken as hostages.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said aid still needed to be given to people displaced in Gaza.

“There’s a lot of Palestinian people who are not members of Hamas who are suffering, and we’ve got to make sure they’re getting food and aid,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

“You’ve got hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, and they’re the ones who are suffering and they’re the ones who we’ve got to prioritise.

“The international community has got to put to Israel that you look after the civilians, you’ve got to try and help them. It’s not their fault.”