TRANSCRIPT
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says around 45 Australians in Gaza have contacted the federal government seeking to be repatriated to Australia.
The Australians have been caught up in the conflict between Hamas militants and Israeli forces - which reignited when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on October the 7th.
Israel's military has since launched its own round of retaliatory airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which have continued into their 10th consecutive day.
At least 1,400 people been killed in Israel and at least 2,800 killed in Gaza.
The significant escalation is the latest in a long-standing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Mr Marles has told the ABC that Australia has yet to confirm exactly where the 45 Australians currently are located.
"Obviously opening some kind of corridor which would allow people to leave Gaza would be a massive step forward. It would provide the key answer for those Australians in this situation. But clearly there are many more people who are caught up in this as well."
It comes as the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to allow aid to reach the Gaza Strip with the United Nations had previously failed.
Mr Blinken says U-S President Joe Biden will reaffirm the United States' solidarity with Israel and the aid will reach Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.
"To that end, today and at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in Gaza, and them alone, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way. It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible. We share Israel's concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it form reaching the people who need it. If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we'll be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from happening again."
Mr Blinken reportedly met for over five hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
It's the second time Mr Blinken has returned to Israel in a matter of days.
There are reports sirens sounded during their meeting, forcing Mr Netanyahu and Mr Blinken to shelter in a bunker for five minutes.
Prime Minister Netanyahu extended the invitation to visit Israel to U-S President Joe Biden, who has been outspoken in his support for Israel.
Mr Biden has accepted that invitation, and will visit Israel on Wednesday local time.
Meanwhile, Australians in Gaza are being urged to move to the Rafah border with Egypt's Sinai [[SIGH-nigh]] peninsula.
Thousands of people have been gathering there, hoping to gain passage into Egypt.
The U-N Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's [[UNRWA]] director of Communications Juliette Touma says it's essential that aid is delivered to people in Gaza.
She says 14 of their staff - mainly teachers - have been killed in Israeli military airstrikes, with people unable to reassure their children of their safety.
"The shelters are overcrowded; the shelters do not have enough sanitation services. We are getting reports that hundreds of people are sharing one toilet, for example. So... we do have serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases in the Gaza Strip, especially among those displaced."
Hamas has released its first video showing a 21-year-old woman who was taken hostage from Israel.
Speaking in Hebrew, she pleads for her release, saying she was taken hostage while at a party.
Israeli officials says the militant group is holding some 199 Israeli hostages, who they are refusing to release.
A social media investigation group has been established by volunteers in Israel, who are using artificial intelligence [[AI]] and voice recognition to help locate hostages and those missing.
Karine Nahon is the head of the Civilian Missing War Room.
"There was a video of a man sitting when Hamas soldier, from the soldiers are above him, terrorists, and we seem okay. And one of the things that we noticed is his underwear. It was a very special underwear. So the people from the video, from the analysis of the video, took this and started to match that to hundreds of thousands of movies that we have inside the Hamas, that is coming right now. And after like two days, we had a match. We found the same underwear with a person that we couldn't see his face, but we showed that his bleeding. At the movie, he wasn't bleeding. So, when he was in the place of the Gaza, in Gaza, he was bleeding, and we noticed and we were able to identify him by the underwear."
Israel's military has ordered the evacuation of villages in a strip of territory near its border with Lebanon, raising fears the war could spread to a new front.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis to prepare for a long battle.
