New Zealand has defined the Hamas organization in its entirety as a terrorist entity and imposed travel bans on "extremist" Israeli settlers who it says have carried out violent attacks against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Lexon said in a statement: "Hamas' attacks on Israel in October were brutal and we condemned them unequivocally." Lexon also added that "New Zealand wants to be clear - the mission of Hamas deals with terrorist activities and does not reflect the Palestinian people in Gaza and around the world."

In a joint statement by the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the leaders of the countries called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reported. The statement comes amid reports of an Israeli attack on Rafah: "We are very concerned about the indications that Israel is planning to expand the ground maneuver towards Rafah - such an action would be catastrophic," the statement reads

New Zealand announced the suspension of funding to UNRWA: following the uproar that arose after Israel handed over documents with the names of 12 agency employees who took an active part in the October 7 massacre - Prime Minister Christopher Lexon said that the accusations presented were "extremely serious" and that the financial aid was suspended. It was also reported In the local media, Lexon announced that the country's foreign minister is the one who will decide when it is possible to return and transfer funding to the relief agency, and stated that it will: "It will take as long as it takes"