United States President Donald Trump's announced plan to "take over" the Gaza strip has been met with horror by pro-Palestine Canberrans and politicians.
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Mussa Hijazi, an activist and lawyer of Palestinian heritage, told The Canberra Times Mr Trump's announcement was "completely nuts" but unsurprising.
"I'm just filled with dread about where this is going to go," Mr Hijazi said.
"They're now openly talking about breaching the Geneva Convention ... about ethnic cleansing."
He said Gazans would not "willingly just walk away from their land", meaning if Mr Trump followed through with his plan, "more genocide" would ensue.
The US President announced on Wednesday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would "take over" and "level" the Gaza strip, and deploy its military to do "what is necessary".
"We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site," Mr Trump told reporters.
In Australia, neither major party has condemned the US President's statement, sparking outrage from Palestine supporters who say Israel has been allowed to act with impunity.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese batted away questions at a press conference on Wednesday while reiterating Australia's longstanding commitment to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
Mr Albanese told reporters he would not provide a "running commentary" on Mr Trump's statements.
He said he had not received "any request regarding the rebuilding of Gaza" but did not rule out the possibility of Australia providing military assistance to the US.
"We have supported a ceasefire. We have supported hostages being released, and we have supported aid getting into Gaza," Mr Albanese said.
Mr Hijazi called on the government to condemn Mr Trump's plan.
"Every government in the world should be speaking out about this," he told this masthead.
"The sad reality is that we're beholden to US policy in relation to the Middle East."
Independent senator Fatima Payman, who quit the Labor party in July after defying caucus solidarity to cross the floor in support of a Greens motion supporting Palestine, took aim at Mr Albanese on social media.
"The Albanese Labor government is doing absolutely nothing," Senator Payman said.
"But sure, let's keep pretending that the US is the best country to protect us."
She likened Mr Trump's plan to the dispossession of Native Americans more than 150 years ago.
"Same atrocities, different century. History is repeating itself, and the world is silent," she said.
"Trump says he would go in and level the site in Gaza. Does he not realise the Israeli government already did that?" Senator Payman said.
"Ninety-two per cent of housing [is] gone, flattened, turned to dust."
Liberal MP Julian Leeser said the opposition's support for a two-state solution remained unchanged when asked about Mr Trump's comments.
"It's not a policy we put forward," Mr Leeser told Sky. "We want to see as a priority, the hostages returned home. We want to see peace in the Middle East."
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Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma said it was "too soon" for Australia to shift its foreign policy.
"Something that Donald Trump's staff often say about him is 'take him seriously, but don't take him literally'," Mr Sharma told Sky.
Greens leader Adam Bandt called on the government to condemn Mr Trump's comments, which he said had made "the world a less safe place".
"This is about international law ... This is about saying that it is not OK for one country to say that it is going to take over on another," Mr Bandt told reporters in Canberra.
"This is wrong, and Australia should say this is wrong."
Australian Greens deputy leader senator Mehreen Faruqi said Foreign Minister Penny Wong should "should be on the phone to her US counterparts right now putting pressure on them to reverse these catastrophic decisions".
"Silence or inaction in the face of these horrific decisions from the US, which our government calls 'one of our closest allies', would make Australia complicit in the suffering that will inevitably follow," Senator Faruqi said.
