Media Release: House of Welcome support for a ceasefire in Gaza

We support the Australian Government’s decision to join 152 other nations voting in the United Nations General Assembly to call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages.

House of Welcome has accompanied refugees and people seeking asylum for twenty years. House of Welcome values justice. Our vision is for a society which recognises the dignity, equality, human rights and humanity of all people.

We condemn the October 7 attacks on Israeli communities by Hamas and other armed groups, which involved unacceptable loss of life, especially of children, and other acts of violence and the taking of hostages.

We are shocked at the escalation of violence in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel. Alongside our communities, we are affected by the intensity of the war and are concerned by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians. Civilians, especially children, ultimately pay the highest price in wars. The physical, psychological and emotional impact will be felt for generations to come. We know this from our decades of work with civilian survivors of war.

We call on the Australian Government to support efforts to uphold human rights and international law in the Israel-Palestine conflict and to participate in seeking durable political and diplomatic solutions to end the violence and protect civilians. This includes taking steps to address settler violence in the occupied West Bank, which United Nations data indicate has reached record levels in the last two months.

We denounce all forms of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian language and actions and acknowledge that the crisis has caused pain and grief in many Australian communities, leaving people fearful for their safety.

We call on the Australian Government to provide visas for the people to travel from Gaza and Israel, and to assist Australian visa holders to have their names added to the Rafah crossing list. Based on our experience working with forcibly displaced people, we also call on the Australian Government to provide humanitarian assistance and access to income support, Medicare, and work rights for all those who have arrived from Gaza over recent months.

House of Welcome has supported and welcomed vulnerable forcibly displaced peoples from all over the world for over 20 years. We stand in solidarity with all forcibly displaced peoples, and will continue to speak for their safety, rights, access and opportunity.

– House of Welcome