'I'll kill them': outrage at nurses' anti-Israeli taunt

Two nurses face criminal and health prosecutions over "sickening" claims Israeli patients at Australian hospitals would be denied treatment or killed.

The comments, which emerged in a video on social media, have triggered condemnation from political, medical and community leaders and sparked urgent audits of patient care at the nurses' workplace.

In a video shared by an Israeli influencer, one nurse in a NSW Health uniform boasts of sending Israeli patients to hell while another says "I won't treat them, I'll kill them."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "very clear to me" the pair had committed crimes and he hoped they faced the full force of the law.

"The comments are vile, the footage is sickening and it is shameful," he said.

The Jewish community - already on edge after a sharp rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks - said any failure to lay charges against the nurses with existing laws would highlight the need for reform to outlaw the behaviour.

"It is of profound concern that individuals can ... scandalously claim that they have killed certain patients, just because they are Israeli, and that that could be within the confines of the law," NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said.

Any health workers in any way sympathetic to the nurses' "vile and offensive" faith-based behaviour should quit immediately, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said.

"Don't bother turning up for work tomorrow, because you're not welcome," he said.

"I don't want you a part of our health system."

His executives overseeing 180,000 staff rapidly identified the pair hours after they appeared in footage posted online.

The two nurses, who completed a night shift on Wednesday morning, were captured using a website for random video chats when they spoke with an Israeli influencer.

The male nurse, later identified as an Australian citizen and Afghan refugee with six years of nursing experience, falsely claimed he was a doctor and told the Israeli man he was "going to go to" hell.

"It's Palestine's country, not your country," a female nurse said before detailing how she'd approach Israeli patients.

"I won't treat them, I'll kill them."

"You have no idea how many Israeli (sic) ... came to this hospital and ... I send them to (hell)," the man said.

A task force targeting anti-Semitism was investigating the threats made in the video, NSW police said.

Security footage was being reviewed and staff had been interviewed.

"It is crucial police are given time to conduct further interviews and navigate this high-level investigation," Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.

The state health worker watchdog was also investigating.

NSW's top health bureaucrat suggested the male nurse faced issues with posing as a doctor, let alone hate speech and workforce policy breaches.

"Everything that you can imagine in my view has been breached," NSW Health secretary Susan Pearce said.

"I offer my sincere apologies."

An initial investigation of incidents and safety issues found no indication the claims that Israeli patients had been denied treatment or killed were true.

But a more thorough investigation is underway.

Practitioners were bound by a code of conduct to care for all people, NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association acting general secretary Michael Whaites said.

"As a union representing the professions of nursing and midwifery we stand for peace, we stand for love, and we defend the global human right to healthcare," he said.

Liberal MP Kellie Sloane, who holds the shadow health portfolio and represents an area with a large Jewish population, said the community was facing violence in the streets, schools and daycare centres.

"To see it in a hospital, where they are at their most vulnerable, is particularly chilling," she said.

She was however forced to defend comments that "when you see stuff like is happening in our hospitals, it's like deport them".

Ms Sloane said she was not specifically referencing the two nurses, who were later identified as Australian citizens.