KEY POINTS:
- Ed Husic has repeated calls for "concrete steps" towards a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Husic stressed the estimated 10,000 children killed in Gaza are "not Hamas".
- Peter Dutton says Husic's intervention has offended Australia's Jewish community.
Coalition leader Peter Dutton claims a Labor minister — who said he wants "concrete steps" towards a ceasefire in Gaza and suggested Israel may have breached international law — has gone "too far" and offended Australia's Jewish community.
Gaza's Health Ministry says Israel's has killed more than 16,000 Palestinians since 7 October, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people.
Labor frontbencher Ed Husic on Tuesday repeated his assertion, , that Palestinian civilians had paid too high a price for Hamas' "despicable" actions.
Ed Husic stressed the 10,000 Palestinian children estimated to have been killed by Israel's military assault are "not Hamas". Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
On Tuesday, Husic stressed the reported 10,000 Palestinian children killed by the bombardments were "not Hamas" and suggested courts may investigate whether Israel had breached international law.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Dutton said the comments amounted to "flying off the handle" and claimed they were offensive to the Jewish community.
"If he's got the guts to say something, he should say it when the prime minister is in the country or when he's at work, so that he can refute what it is that Mr Husic's had to say," he said.
"His comments today go too far, and he always waits for the prime minister to go overseas before he makes these comments."
Albanese is on leave this week, but it was not immediately clear which comments Dutton was referring to.
Husic's accusation of collective punishment was levelled on 19 October, when Albanese was in Canberra while parliament sat. His comments to SBS News last week, similar to the ones repeated on Tuesday, were also made while the prime minister was in the country and working.
Dutton's office also did not clarify which comments in particular he deemed insensitive.
These children are not Hamas, stresses Husic
Speaking to ABC radio on Tuesday, Husic called for "concrete steps" towards a ceasefire, including the release of an estimated 240 hostages being held by Hamas.
The minister said he would "not be surprised" if courts were asked to examine whether Israel's assault on Gaza was in breach of international law.
"One of the hardest things to learn about was parents writing the names of their children on the soles of their feet, because they figured that the next morning they may not be there, and they [may] need to be identified," he said.
Penny Wong will travel to Israel next month. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"We’ve got to be able to do better. Those kids are not Hamas ... and they should not have had to have borne the brunt of that military action."
Husic noted that Israel initially ordered Palestinians to flee northern Gaza for the south, where it is now launching a sustained assault.
"People can understand quite clearly how that doesn't work. There is that requirement, I think, to observe international humanitarian law. [That] involves not targeting hospitals, that involves not targeting civilians," he said.
Wong will travel to Israel next month, soon after Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts visits the country this week.
She called for "steps towards a ceasefire" in November, and urged Israel to halt its attacks on hospitals. But she accepted any ceasefire could not be "one-sided" and must be predicated on Hamas releasing hostages.
