UN chief António Guterres condemned “clear violations of international law” in Gaza as the US added to mounting pressure on the Israeli government to pause its bombardment of the besieged coastal enclave and allow in more aid.
In his toughest remarks so far about the conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, Guterres told the UN security council on Tuesday that the safety of civilians was paramount.
“Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields,” the secretary-general said, adding that it “does not mean ordering more than 1mn people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself”.
Guterres also said that the deadly assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum”.
“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” he added, though he said their grievances could not justify the “appalling attacks”.
His remarks triggered a furious response from Israel. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, described Guterres’ comments as “shocking” and called on him to resign, while foreign minister Eli Cohen cancelled a meeting with the secretary-general in protest.
Also addressing the security council, US secretary of state Antony Blinken blamed Hamas for using civilians as human shields but also called for “humanitarian pauses” in Israel’s air strikes against targets in Gaza to allow civilians to get out of harm’s way.
EU leaders are also expected to call later this week for a pause in hostilities to let more water, food and medicine into Gaza and to give more time for negotiations mediated by Qatar to secure the release of hostages.
UN officials have warned that a catastrophic humanitarian disaster is unfolding in Gaza as Israel bombards the enclave and cuts off its supplies of water, fuel and power.
Only four small consignments of aid have crossed the border into Gaza from Egypt since Israeli forces imposed a siege of the strip. The latest, involving eight trucks carrying water, food and medicines, arrived in Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israel is blocking the entry of aid at the scale necessary for alleviating Gaza’s humanitarian crisis until a mechanism for inspections can be put into place that guarantees that no weapons or fuel enter the enclave from Egypt, said three senior UN officials.
Palestinian officials said a further 700 people had been killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours — the highest daily death toll since the war began.
Speaking to soldiers late on Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Yesterday, in our attacks in Gaza, we struck the enemy the harshest blow they have taken in a single day.”
At least 5,791 people have been killed in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities said, since Israel started its bombardment of the strip in retaliation for the Hamas attack that killed at least 1,400 civilians and soldiers, according to Israeli authorities.
On a visit to Jerusalem intended as an expression of solidarity with Israel, French president Emmanuel Macron said the release of all hostages seized by Hamas should be the “first objective” of Israel and its allies.
Macron added it was “our duty” to fight against terrorist groups, saying: “The fight must be without mercy — but not without rules.”
He also appeared to advise Israel against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza to eradicate Hamas, saying: “Organising targeted operations is a necessity.”
An Elysée palace official said France believed a ground invasion of the strip would be “difficult to carry out” while respecting the rules of war.
Macron called for an international coalition against Hamas like the one that battled Isis in Syria and Iraq.
Qatar’s ruler warned the international community on Tuesday not to give Israel an “unconditional greenlight” in its war with Hamas, warning that the conflict “threatens the security of the region and the world”.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said he could not “stay tight-lipped about the unprecedented barbaric bombing of the civilians in Gaza Strip”.
Hamas on Monday released two more hostages of the 200 plus it abducted from southern Israel in its assault, citing “compelling humanitarian reasons”.
Yocheved Lifshitz, one of two elderly women freed by Hamas, recounted her ordeal on Tuesday, saying: “We went through hell.”
Lifshitz also criticised the Netanyahu government and the army, complaining that warnings were missed ahead of the attack. “We were the scapegoat of the government,” she said.
The Israeli military has stepped up its air strikes in Gaza in recent days, hitting an additional 400 targets overnight which it described as staging grounds for rocket attacks and a tunnel that led to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that they thwarted an attempt by Hamas to attack the country from the sea using divers.
Israeli officials have indicated that its looming ground offensive is on schedule. “We stand before the next stage,” Netanyahu said. “It is coming.”
But the success of back-channel hostage negotiations run by Qatar, aided by Egypt and facilitated by the Red Cross, has complicated Israel’s hope for a large, swift ground operation to dismantle Hamas.
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London and Sarah White in Paris
