The diplomatic stoush between Australia and Israel has cranked up another gear, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using a television appearance to blast Anthony Albanese’s leadership record.

Albanese has flagged that Australia will join other Western nations, including the UK, France and Canada, in recognising a state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September, in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

A furious Netanyahu unleashed on Albanese during an interview on Australian television on Thursday night.

‘I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,’ Netanyahu told Sky News.

‘When the worst terrorist organisation on earth… which murdered women, raped them, beheaded men and burnt babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages, when these people congratulate the prime minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.’

Diplomatic ties hit an all-time low this week after the federal government denied a visa to far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman from entering the country for a speaking tour, following provocative comments.

Israel retaliated by cancelling the visas of three Australian diplomats who cover the Palestinian Authority.

Anthony Albanese has downplayed personal attacks in a social media post from Benjamin Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu

‘When Prime Minister Albanese and the leaders of France and Britain and others, when they say we’ll give them a Palestinian state, they are actually rewarding terror, they are saying it doesn’t matter what horrors you people do,’ Netanyahu said.

‘(Australia and Israel) had a great relationship over the years. I think it’s gone astray because leaders did not show the strength and conviction they should have, when we’re fighting the war of Western civilisation against these barbarians.’

Netanyahu’s broadside came as the Israeli military maintains pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments ahead of an offensive to seize the enclave’s largest city.

The military has called up 60,000 Israeli reservists.

Netanyahu insisted that US President Donald Trump had said that the decision by some Western nations to reocognise Palestinian statehood was ‘irrelevant’ – and that Israel needed to rid the region of Hamas.

‘That there was never a question that we’re not going to leave Hamas there,’ Netanyahu added.

‘I think President Trump put it best, he says Hamas has to disappear from Gaza. It’s like leaving the SS in Germany. 

‘You know, you clear out most of Germany, but you leave out Berlin with the SS and the Nazi core there.’ 

Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on August 18

A Palestinian boy pulls a wheelchair past destroyed buildings in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City on August 14

Netanyahu hinted that the conflict could soon be over.

‘We are on the verge of completing this war… when that happens, I think we will have tremendous opportunities to expand the peace,’ he said.

‘We will win.’

He added: ‘It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and releases the remaining 50 hostages, at least 20 of which are alive, and that’s our goal to get all the hostages out, to disarm Hamas, demilitarise Gaza, and give a different future for Gazans.’ 

Netanyahu said that, contrary to what some believed, his goal was not to ‘occupy Gaza’.

‘It’s to free Gaza, free them from Hamas tyranny, free Israel and others from Hamas terrorism, give Gaza and Israel a different future, and I think we’re close to doing it,’ he said.

‘It’ll have to, of course, mean getting the last strongholds of Hamas, they shouldn’t be there. Everybody understands that.’

Earlier this week, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Israel was increasingly isolated on the international stage.

‘Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry. Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done,’ he told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.

Albanese, for his part, has not responded in kind, insisting he did not take the criticisms personally. 

‘My job is to represent the Australian national interest and I think very much that Australians want two things to happen,’ he told reporters on Wednesday.

‘One, they want people to stop killing each other. Whether it be Israelis or Palestinians. The second thing that they want is the conflict to not be brought here.’ 

It comes as Executive Council of the Australian Jewry President Daniel Aghion called for an end to the ‘war of words’ between Australia and Israel, claiming that Netanyahu’s description of Albanese as a ‘weak’ leader was ‘inflammatory and provocative’.

‘These comments have played straight into the hands of opponents of Israel and antisemites, to the detriment of the Australian Jewish community,’ the ECAJ letter states.

‘This deterioration in the diplomatic relations between two countries we love is causing us nothing but pain and anguish, and we will not suffer in silence.’

Rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of enacting a ‘deliberate policy’ of starvation in Gaza, as the United Nations and aid groups warn of famine.