TRANSCRIPT:
The Israeli military says it has called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade on Gaza, in a sign it may be planning a ground assault in response to the devastating weekend attack by Hamas gunmen.
Head of the Palestinian delegation in Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, says the next few days could be devastating for Gazans.
"It will be hell, unfortunately. I mean I expect like hundreds, hundreds of Palestinian people will die in Gaza. This is a big tragedy."
Israeli TV channels say the death toll from the Hamas attack stands at 900, while Gaza's Health Ministry has estimated at least 687 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the enclave since Saturday.
Israel's Deputy Ambassador to Australia Christian Cantor says the images of what took place in southern Israel on Saturday are reminiscent of the Holocaust.
"These are really difficult times. It's something that we have not confronted. I mean the images that people have in their mind where they're the events in southern Israel go back to the Holocaust."
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In Australia, there have been widespread demonstrations as hostilities escalate in the Middle East.
In Sydney, hundreds of Australians have marched in solidarity with Palestinians, some releasing flares on the steps of the Opera House in protest at the Israeli government's declaration of war against Hamas.
One protester told SBS News that he believed Anthony Albanese was missing the Palestinian side of the story.
"What we are here for is to speak loudly that we are in full support of the Palestinians and for their legitimate right to resist the occupation. And I personally condemn the statement made by our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to condemn the Palestinian attacks against Israel, where as he should have condemned the Israeli daily attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territories."
Premier Chris Minns says Sydney's Jewish community were asked by police to stay home during the protest and have not had the opportunity to express their solidarity for Israel.
But Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke says the police are not taking sides.
"This is very clearly an emotive issue across community. We continue to work across all communities. This is New South Wales, we don't expect people to bring conflict from other places to the streets of Sydney and violence will not be tolerated and we were able to manage that to assure there was no conflict last night. We are continuing to work across all community and all community can be assured that we will continue to do so so. They are free to go about their business without fear and that we will provide them support across all community."
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New research claims billions of people could struggle to survive in periods of deadly, humid heat within this century as temperatures rise.
The study looked at various warming scenarios from human-caused climate change, modelling how many days of potentially lethal humid heat global populations would be subjected to depending on how hot the planet becomes.
The world has already warmed about 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial averages due to the production and burning of fossil fuels.
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The New South Wales government have announced a proposal to send people caught with small amounts of drugs to counselling rather than court.
Under the planned changes, people caught with small amounts of illegal drugs could be issued with a $400 on-the-spot fine and have the choice to either pay up, dispute it in court or attend a mandatory counselling program run by NSW Health.
But Attorney General Michael Daley says the counselling option would only be for the first two offences - and the proposal would be implemented at the discretion of police officers.
