National Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith disagrees with Damien O'Conor's characterisation of Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal.
On Thursday, Labour MP Damien O'Connor said, "No person with any ounce of moral courage can see this as anything but horrific - nothing more than a genocide".
It came as new Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters brought a motion to the House that outlined steps toward a ceasefire, which the Labour Party put forward amendments for, wanting the ceasefire to happen immediately.
On AM's political panel, Goldsmith described the situation in Gaza as a "human tragedy" but stopped short of calling it a genocide.
"I don't think it's appropriate to be using words like genocide," he said.
"I think anybody watching what's going on in that part of the world is distressed about it and that's why we are calling as a government for urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire and New Zealand has a role to play in setting out that clearly."
Goldsmith said genocide is a "very high threshold and you have to be very careful about that".
While he agreed with Israel's right to self-defence, Goldsmith said it does have to operate within international laws.
AM co-host Ryan Bridge then pushed him on whether Israel is currently operating within the bounds of international law.
Goldsmith said he was "just stating the fact that we want all sides to be following international laws and we're very focused upon them".
"Does the Government believe that Israel is following the letter of international law?" Bridge asked.
Goldsmith replied, "Well look that's not the statement that we're making".
"But why make the statement calling for them to do so if you don't think they are already," Bridge pushed.
"It's just a clear reminder that that's our expectation at every instance, nobody wants to see this going on," Goldsmith said.
Also on the panel, Labour's Spokesperson for Police Ginny Andersen said, "We need to stand up and say no to this".
She revealed Labour believes it is "definitely time right now to call for a ceasefire".
She said it's disappointing the Government didn't call for an immediate ceasefire.
"When we look at the number of lives lost so far and the children who have been killed, it's just completely unacceptable that we can be in a world where this happens, and we need to stand up and say no to this."
Asked whether she agreed with O'Connor that genocide was happening, Andersen said it was an "incredibly impassioned speech from right across the house".
"There are a huge amount of lives being lost and Damien is very passionate about the subject and that was made incredibly clear in his speech."
She believed determinations of genocide needed to be made by international law, "but there is no doubt about the huge number of people who have been killed and it's really concerning that there's nowhere for people to go.
"We need to stand up and ask for a ceasefire right now."
