He moved a motion for the parliament to stand with Israel, condemn antisemitism, recognise that Jewish people had been subject to hateful prejudice, and call for the release of all Israeli hostages.

The motion also acknowledged the “devastating loss of Israeli and Palestinian life” as a result of the conflict and supported international efforts to maintain humanitarian access into Gaza, including safe passage for civilians.

“We have no room for antisemitism in this nation. We have no room for Islamophobia. We have no room for hatred. Not against Jews, not against Muslims. Our nation has been made better by generations of both,” Albanese said.

Hamas has been declared a terrorist organisation by Australia, the United States and the European Union for its long-running armed resistance against Israel, for which it receives financial and material backing from Iran.

Seeking to draw a distinction between Hamas and civilians, Albanese said: “We should be clear that it is Hamas that is the enemy, not the Palestinian people.”

“The Palestinian people are suffering greatly and this suffering has impacted on generations of Palestinians. The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip – which is home to 2 million people – is deteriorating rapidly.”

He said there was no question about Israel’s right to take strong action and defend itself against a terrorist organisation, but joined international calls, including from US President Joe Biden, for Israel to abide by the rules of war.

“As [French] President Emmanuel Macron has said, ‘preserving civilian populations is the duty of democracies’,” Albanese said.

“We care about the lives of everyone caught in this conflict. That is who we are as Australians. We believe all people have the right to live in peace within secure borders. The people of Israel have that right. The people of Palestine have that right. And the best path to that reality is a negotiated two-state solution within internationally recognised borders.”

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Hamas had used Palestinian civilians as human shields and pushed a two-state solution further out of reach, Albanese said.

“That also makes this an unconscionable crime perpetrated by Hamas against the Palestinian people.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, speaking after the prime minister, condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel as “sheer barbarity”.

“No longer can the sympathisers of these murderous terrorists call them freedom fighters. No longer can the apologists of this death cult claim they have a just and noble cause. What occurred nine days ago was the embodiment of evil,” he said.

In comments that contrasted with Albanese’s, Dutton said Israel should show no restraint in its retaliation.

“The Coalition proudly supports Israel’s right to do what is necessary and needed in the circumstances, with every asset available to safeguard its sovereignty, to bolster its borders, to protect its people and to thwart threats it now faces,” Dutton said.

“There must be no restraint shown to those who have showed no restraint themselves in committing these vicious and vile acts of terrorism.”

He also tried to paint the government as weak in its response to Australian pro-Palestinian protests, accusing Labor of condoning antisemitic slogans chanted by a small group of protesters at the Sydney Opera House last week.

Dutton said the protesters had fired flares, burned an Israeli flag and shouted words that “we should never hear in our country or anywhere else in the civilised world: ‘Gas the Jews, F the Jews, and F Israel’.”

When confronted by an interjection from Labor MP Alicia Payne, who told him to “stop saying it”, Dutton said he would not stop repeating the chants.

“Shame on you for condoning those words or suggesting that those words shouldn’t be condemned in this place,” Dutton said in response to the interjection.

“I won’t stop saying them. And the Jewish community here in Australia deserves to hear you condemn them as well.”

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Payne told this masthead afterwards that she made her interjection because “I don’t think the Jewish community needs to keep hearing those abhorrent words”.

The claim that protesters yelled “gas the Jews” is unverified.

Albanese had condemned the chants just 10 minutes beforehand.

“I know I speak for every member of this House when I say that this kind of hateful prejudice has no place in Australia,” the prime minister said in his remarks.

“The awful antisemitism chanted by some of the protesters at the Sydney Opera House is beyond offensive … It is a betrayal of our Australian values. We reject it. And we condemn it. Our country is better than that. And our country is a better place because of our Jewish community.”

Albanese urged Australians wanting to leave Israel to take the first option they could, after three government-commissioned evacuation flights left on Sunday night.

“The situation on the ground is challenging and rapidly deteriorating,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said attempts to evacuate Australians from Gaza had not been successful.

“That is an extremely difficult, a very distressing situation. We will continue to do everything we can to arrange that passage,” she said.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.