Albanese government tries to hold its middle ground on Israel-Hamas war, as Greens boycott question time

Questions about the Israel-Hamas war dominated the start of Monday's question time, as the Coalition and the Greens called on Labor to condemn different sides and voices in the conflict.

Labor Senator Murray Watt tried to appease, acknowledging the humanitarian situation unfolding in Gaza was "dire" and condemning Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, all while reiterating the government's call for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach civilians.

"We know it is extremely difficult to defeat a craven terrorist group that has burrowed itself in civilian infrastructure using civilians as a shield," Senator Watt said.

"Israel has a right to defend itself. But Israel's friends, including Australia, have consistently emphasised that the way it does so matters.

"It matters for innocent civilians who should not pay for horror perpetrated by Hamas, and it matters for Australia's own security which faces grave risk if conflict spreads."

Greens senators ended up leaving the chamber in protest around 25 minutes into question time over the government's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza or condemn Israel's attacks.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi used her supplementary question to slam the government for being "heartless, gutless cowards" on Palestine, adding that "weasel words are not going to stop war crimes".

The Greens senator declared "free, free Palestine" before she and her colleagues left the chamber, with Senator Janet Rice holding up a picture of the Palestinian flag.

Meanwhile, the opposition pushed the government to condemn comments from an Islamic preacher in Sydney who, according to reports in The Australian, delivered a "radical sermon" that called on Muslims to wage "jihad" and described Hamas as "freedom fighters".

Senator James Paterson also asked Labor Senator Don Farrell - acting as government leader in the Senate - to condemn accusations of genocide that have been levelled against Israel.

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Senator Farrell refused to be drawn on the issue, and accused the Coalition of attempting to "gain political advantage and score political points out of the terrible, terrible tragedy that's going on in the Middle East at the moment." He later accused political parties on all sides of "making hay out of this situation".

Pressure is mounting on world leaders to push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, as the death toll rises in Gaza.

Gaza health authorities say that more than 9700 people have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to Hamas' attack.

Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, both arrived in Israel over the weekend to show solidarity with the Netanyahu government.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also visited Tel Aviv and the West Bank in recent days, where he continued to call for localised humanitarian pauses - a call that was rejected by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after their meeting on Friday.

Mr Blinken has also met with Arab foreign ministers, who called on the US to push Israel towards a ceasefire. But the top US diplomat has dismissed this idea, arguing that it would allow Hamas to regroup.