The prime minister has decried Israel’s denial of aid to starving civilians but stopped short of following France’s lead in recognising a Palestinian state.

In a strongly worded statement, Anthony Albanese said the situation in Gaza, where the vision of emaciated children has become the norm, had “gone beyond the world’s worst fears”.

“Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored,” he said on Friday.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

“Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian.”

But the Australian government will not immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement.

Albanese instead said recognising the “legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own” was a bipartisan position.

“Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally-recognised borders,” he said.

“Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza.”

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after the former nation and the US withdrew from talks.

Albanese also urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law.

With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was “purely a political famine”.

“Nothing about this is natural or organic — it’s 100 per cent man-made,” the Refugees International president told ABC Radio.

“We are at — if not past — a tipping point.

“All coping mechanisms that the population use have been exhausted, people are beginning to just drop dead of hunger.”

The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger.

According to Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation’s facilities were located far from population centres.

“By design, the people seeking aid from these facilities have to go through areas that are extraordinarily dangerous, that bring them into direct proximity to (Israeli army) forces who have fired on them almost every single day that the GHF has been in operation,” he said.

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce.”

Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort.

While the coalition said it had “strong concerns” about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing the prime minister’s statement did not place any blame on Hamas.

“Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas,” she said.

Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025.

In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of whom were shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.

Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.

The prime minister also condemned the “terror and brutality” of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.