Labour MP Damien O'Connor has labelled Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" against Palestinians during a debate in Parliament on Thursday.
It happened after new deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters brought a motion to the House which outlined steps toward a ceasefire.
"I move that this House expresses grave concern at the ongoing violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories," Peters said.
O'Connor, Labour's trade spokesperson, gave an impassioned speech after Peters.
"I acknowledge the motion being put up on this tragic issue," he began.
The Labour Party called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel - putting forward amendments to the Government's motion.
"There can be no prosperity without peace," O'Connor said. "The situation in Gaza is absolutely appalling. No person with any ounce of moral courage can see this as anything but horrific - nothing more than a genocide.
"And I call upon Israel, a nation that has been set up and sought sympathy and support, because of the Holocaust, and the outrageous outcomes... to look at itself and apply the same humanity to the people of Palestine," he told the House.
O'Connor said Aotearoa was appalled by the Holocaust.
"How then, can a nation impose that upon another race of people?"
O'Connor said New Zealand has been slow to issue "a call to end this depravity, this genocide, this slaughter."
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson also put forward amendments to the Government's motion.
Her party pushed to recognise the targeting of civilians, schools and hospitals cannot be considered self-defence.
"How else are people on the ground in Gaza meant to understand this as anything other than genocide?"
Davidson said the current conflict didn't start on October 7.
"This is decades of oppression by the Israeli government over the occupied territories of Palestine."
Meanwhile, National MP and Trade Minister Todd McClay said the Government has called on all parties to take steps towards a ceasefire.
The Government "fully supports Israel's right to defend itself from the terrorist organisation Hamas", he added.
"Israel must abide by international law at all times" and that the "massive" loss of civilian life in Gaza is "deeply concerning", McClay said.
It comes as Israeli troops advance in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, forcing Gazans fleeing the fighting to cram into Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
