GAZA/JERUSALEM – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday alleged violations of international law in Gaza and urged an immediate ceasefire, in remarks that angered Israel.

Israel has been pounding the Palestinian territory in response to Hamas attacks, with the crisis deeply dividing the UN Security Council.

Opening a high-level session of the council, Mr Guterres said there was no excuse for the “appalling” violence by Hamas militants on Oct 7, but also warned against “collective punishment” of Palestinians.

“I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law,” he said, without explicitly naming Israel.

Mr Guterres also said the Hamas attacks “did not happen in a vacuum” as Palestinians have been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.

His remarks infuriated Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

He pointed his finger at Mr Guterres and raised his voice, recounting graphic accounts of civilians, including young children, killed in the deadliest single attack in Israeli history.

“Mr Secretary-General, in what world do you live?” Mr Cohen said.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Mr Gilad Erdan, called on Mr Guterres to resign – writing on X, formerly Twitter, that the UN chief had “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder”.

Countries that include the United States, Canada, Russia and Arab states, meanwhile, pushed for either a pause or ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The aim was for humanitarian aid to be delivered to besieged Palestinian civilians.

World leaders are trying to prevent the latest escalation in violence from spreading.

Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct 7 killed at least 1,400 people.

Israel intensified its overnight bombing of southern Gaza, where officials said record numbers of Palestinians had been killed again.

Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said many of those killed were in the south, where hundreds of thousands fled after Israel warned them it would attack the north to wipe out Hamas after its killing spree in Israel.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 6,546 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardments since Oct 7, including 2,704 children. Of the total, 756 had been killed in the previous 24 hours, half of them children, it said – even more than the 704 it reported on Tuesday.

One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis.

“This is something not normal. We have not heard something like this before,” said Mr Khader Abu Odah, one of many stunned residents waiting for an excavator to lift rubble so they could look for survivors.

Palestinian anger over the deaths has been increased by a sense of betrayal as many of those who obeyed the order to move south are also being killed. The Israeli military said Hamas, which took control in Gaza in 2005, has entrenched itself among the civilian population everywhere.

Israel said its latest strikes had eliminated Hamas operatives, including the head of the Hamas battalion for southern Khan Younis. Tunnel shafts, command centres, weapon caches and launch positions were targeted, as well as a cell of Hamas divers trying to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim, it said.

In Gaza City in the north, rescue workers pulled an apparently lifeless young child out of rubble before trying to calm an agitated, partially buried man crying out his family’s names. “They are okay, I swear,” one rescuer said in video footage from the scene.

Fighting fuels region’s fears

Israeli jets also struck Syrian army infrastructure in response to rockets launched from Syria, an ally of Iran, the Israeli military said. The strike fuelled concerns that its war with Hamas, also backed by Iran, will ignite the wider region.

Syrian state media said Israel had killed eight soldiers and wounded seven more near the south-western city of Deraa, and hit Aleppo’s airport, already out of action.

Israel did not accuse the Syrian army of launching rockets, but is suspicious of Iran, its arch-enemy.

Iran has sought regional ascendancy for decades, and backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere, as well as Hamas. It has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.

Israel said its forces hit five squads in Lebanon preparing attacks. Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said 42 of its fighters had been killed since the start of the conflict, which has spread fear among civilians on both sides of the border.

US, Russia offer rival proposals

At the UN, the US and Russia put forward rival plans on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians.

Washington has called for pauses and Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.

“The whole world is expecting from the Security Council a call for a swift and unconditional ceasefire,” Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council. “This is precisely what is not in the American draft. Therefore, we don’t see any point in it, and we cannot support it.”

Arab states firmly back a call for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction of Gaza’s buildings in Israel’s aerial bombardment.

“We followed with regret the inability of this council twice to adopt a resolution or even to call for a ceasefire to end this war,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the council.

Mr Guterres last week called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

A senior US official said: “While we remain opposed to a ceasefire, we think humanitarian pauses linked to the delivery of aid that still allow Israel to conduct military operations to defend itself are worth consideration.”

Hospitals running out of fuel

Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of disease caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes for temporary shelters.

All hospitals say they are running out of fuel to power their electricity generators, leaving them increasingly unable to treat the injured and ill.

More than 40 medical centres have halted operations, a health ministry spokesman said.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned in a post on X that it would halt operations in Gaza on Wednesday night because of the lack of fuel.

However, the Israeli military on Tuesday reaffirmed it would bar the entry of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.

Plea to release more hostages

Qatari mediators are urging Hamas to quicken the pace of hostage releases to include women and children held in Gaza and to do so without expecting Israeli concessions, said three diplomats and a source in the region familiar with the talks.

The Gulf state, in coordination with the US, is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israel over the release of hostages captured in the group's Oct 7 attack.

Hamas has released four of the hostages – a mother and daughter with dual US-Israel nationality last Friday, and two Israeli women on Monday. REUTERS