The federal government has offered its condolences to the family of a Sydney-born woman killed by Islamic militants in Israel.
Grandmother Galit Carbone, 66, was murdered at the Be'eri kibbutz after the terrorist group Hamas launched deadly land and air attacks on Israel's southern border on Saturday.
She had reportedly raised her three children and previously worked as a librarian in the settlement, just kilometres from the Gaza Strip.
She is the first known Australian victim to have died during the current conflict.
"This is heartbreaking news," Home Affair Minister Clare O'Neil told Sunrise on Wednesday.
"What's happened here is a senseless act of violence ... and the Australian government condemns it in the strongest possible terms.
"I say to the Jewish community, we're standing with you, wrapping our arms around and you and I express my deepest condolences for what has happened."
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong is leading efforts by the government to help the estimated 10,000 Australian residents or travellers in Israel who want to leave.
More than 1000 people are dead after the Islamist group Hamas attacked Israeli towns from the Palestinian territories.
The dead were overwhelmingly civilians who were gunned down in homes, on streets and at an outdoor dance party.
Scores of Israelis and some foreigners were captured and taken to Gaza as hostages.
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