"This war is having a staggering and unacceptable number of civilian casualties, including women and children, every day," Xinhua reported citing the statement issued by the top UN official on Sunday.
"This must stop. I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," he added.
Since Oct. 7, over 12,000 individuals have lost their lives in the beleaguered region of Gaza. Spikes in casualties, attacks on schools and shelters, including the death of a UN worker, and crippling fuel shortages blocking aid deliveries rippled across Gaza over the weekend, as the World Health Organization helped to evacuate 31 babies in critical condition at the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital.
"I am deeply shocked that two UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) schools were struck in less than 24 hours in Gaza. Dozens of people -- many women and children -- were killed and injured as they were seeking safety in United Nations premises," the secretary-general said.
He added that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians are seeking shelter at United Nations facilities throughout Gaza due to the intensified fighting. "I reaffirm that our premises are inviolable."
The Zionist regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
Tel Aviv has also imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
The Israeli military is continuing its deadly bombing campaign against Gaza despite widespread international condemnation.
AMK/PR