‘Netanyahu has lost the plot’: New Zealand PM Luxon says Gaza attacks ‘utterly unacceptable’

As New Zealand weighs up whether to recognise a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Wednesday said that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost the plot”.

Luxon condemned the lack of humanitarian aid, the forced displacement of civilians, and the annexation of Gaza as deeply appalling, stating that Netanyahu had gone far beyond acceptable limits.

“I think he has lost the plot,” Reuters quoted Luxon, who heads the centre-right coalition government, as saying.

“What we are seeing overnight, the attack on Gaza City, is utterly, utterly unacceptable,” he added.

Earlier this week, Luxon said New Zealand was considering whether to formally recognise a Palestinian state. On Monday, close ally Australia announced it would support recognition at a UN conference in September, joining Canada, the UK, and France.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached what several Western nations described as “unimaginable levels.”

In a joint statement on Tuesday, Britain, Canada, Australia, and several European allies urged Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into the conflict-ravaged enclave.

Israel has rejected blame for the worsening hunger in Gaza, accusing Hamas of diverting aid shipments, an allegation Hamas denies.

Meanwhile, ahead of Wednesday’s parliamentary session, a small group of protesters gathered outside the national parliament, banging pots and pans in a show of dissent.

According to local outlet Stuff, demonstrators chanted, “MPs grow a spine, recognise Palestine.”

Tensions inside the chamber were also high. On Tuesday, Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick was ejected from Parliament after refusing to apologise for a remark suggesting government MPs lacked courage for not backing a bill to sanction Israel over alleged war crimes.

Swarbrick was again ordered to leave the chamber on Wednesday for repeating her refusal to apologise. When she declined to comply, the government moved to formally suspend her.

“Sixty-eight members of this House were accused of being spineless," House speaker Gerry Brownlee said. “There has never been a time where personal insults like that delivered inside a speech were accepted by this House and I’m not going to start accepting it.”

As Swarbrick left, she called out “free Palestine.”

With inputs from agencies