The Albanese government on Wednesday evening announced it had agreed to contribute a single Australian Defence Force liaison officer towards a US-led co-ordination centre in Israel.
Australia is among US allies invited to participate in the Civil-Military Coordination Centre to support security and reconstruction in Gaza.
Calls to send Australian peacekeepers to Gaza have been rebuffed by the opposition, with the government yet to confirm whether more personnel will be sent.
Security analyst Jennifer Parker said criticism of the small deployment as tokenistic was unfair, as it provided the "overtaxed" Australian Defence Force with upskilling opportunities without taking resources away from the Pacific region.
"Australia's focus does need to be on the Indo-Pacific when it comes to the use and deployment of scarce military resources, but we can't underestimate the importance of having people in planning and peacekeeping teams," she told AAP.
"It is a measured contribution appropriate to our strategic circumstances. Anything that kind of goes above and beyond (a small group) would be against our interests."
Opposition frontbencher James Paterson said with no boots on the ground, the contribution was a "very, very modest one".
"We should be extremely cautious about the ideas proposed by some, that we should have Australian troops on the ground, that we should have a role in peacekeeping in Gaza," the Liberal senator said on Thursday.
Cabinet minister Catherine King would not confirm whether further Australian personnel would be sent to the Middle East.
"This is the request that's been made of us and that's what we've put in place to date," she said.
In a statement, the Defence Department said the nation's priority remained in the Indo-Pacific but it would always "carefully consider opportunities to contribute to international peace and security".
The fragile truce has been largely holding in Gaza since the US president brokered the ceasefire deal almost two weeks ago.
Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people including 20,000 children, according to local health authorities.
More than 1200 Israelis were killed in the Hamas October 7 attack in 2023, with hundreds more taken hostage.
The International Court of Justice has handed down its opinion that Israel must allow aid into Gaza, adding its restrictions over the past two years had breached international law.
Israel denies it has restricted aid from entering Gaza and accused the UN court of bias.
The court said Israel had not produced adequate evidence to justify severing cooperation with the UN's refugee aid agency, known as UNRWA.
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi accused the Albanese government of having played a part in the starvation of Palestinians during the war, by suspending funding to the agency based on allegations of its connection to Hamas.
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