Australian doctors returning from Gaza have described horrific humanitarian scenes as anger increases over living conditions and the number of civilian deaths.
Through tears, Bushra Othman said she watched people die on the floor with a lack of medical aid and colleagues treat children with gunshot wounds to the head on a daily basis.
"I think of my 21-year-old patient, Malak, who died because of severe malnutrition and devastating injuries she suffered from a bomb while walking home," Dr Othman told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
"I think of 17-year-old Muhammad, whose right arm has been auto-amputated by shrapnel, and his mangled right leg is on the brink of being amputated and Israel won't allow for him to be medically evacuated."
Dr Othman accused Israel of targeting Gaza's healthcare system with hospitals hit by missile attacks and humanitarian aid and medical supplies throttled.
"The world cannot continue to turn a blind eye while hospitals are bombed, children are displaced and entire families are obliterated," she said.
Israel has denied targeting civilian infrastructure and has accused listed terror group Hamas of hiding amongst civilians, which has resulted in collateral deaths.
More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the local health ministry tallies, in Israel's retaliation to the Hamas terror attack, which Israel said killed 1200 people and resulted in 250 hostages being taken on October 7, 2023.
Cardiologist and Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association vice president Muntaser Musameh spoke of how he was shot in the back on his way home from school in the West Bank when he was 12 years old.
He still carries the bullet in his shoulder and says he's telling his story to prove children being killed in Occupied Palestinian Territories didn't just start after Israel's counterattack following October 7.
"The Palestinians have been exposed to this treatment, where children suffer, where children are being targeted for a very long time," he said.
Former Labor senator turned independent Fatima Payman questioned how many lives were enough before the Australian government took stronger action.
"How many more need to be killed before this government has the courage ... to call it a genocide?" she said.
Former Dutch army chief Tom Middendorp said it was the obligation of militaries to minimise civilian casualties.
Asked about the proportionality of Gazan casualties, he said he'd feel "very guilty" if he approved strikes that caused a lot of civilian deaths.
He decided against dropping bombs during his time in Afghanistan due to potential collateral damage.
"I would find it very hard to take those kind of decisions, I would be very reluctant to do that," the former general told AAP.
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