Now the row has become personal, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashing out at Mr Albanese in an unusually pointed public missive. On X, Mr Netanyahu’s office wrote: “History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

An Israeli military official says the country's top generals have approved plans to call up tens of thousands of reservists in order to begin a new phase of operations in some of Gaza's most densely populated areas.