UN experts warn of 'annihilation' in Gaza amid Israeli strikes

UN experts demanded action on Wednesday to avert the "annihilation" of Palestinians in Gaza, as rescuers said Israeli strikes across the territory killed dozens of people.

A planned expanded offensive revealed by the Israeli military has drawn international condemnation, after UN agencies previously warned of humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory already devastated by 19 months of war.

More than 20 independent United Nations experts said the world faced a "stark decision" to "remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution".

The experts implored the international community to avert the "moral abyss we are descending into".

Israel's broader offensive, approved by the government amid a two-month aid blockade on Gaza, would include displacing "most" of its residents, the military has said.

France's President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called the situation in Gaza "the most critical we have ever seen".

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid would present a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly aimed at "proposing urgent measures to stop the killing of innocent civilians and ensure humanitarian aid" in Gaza.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank was "increasingly intolerable".

Rescuers in the Palestinian territory said Israeli bombardment on Wednesday killed 59 people - 48 of them in Gaza City.

"Civil defence crews, paramedics and volunteers transported at least 33 martyrs and more than 80 injured, about half of them children and some women, as a result of the Israeli air strike" in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

The strike is one of the deadliest since the restart of Israel's offensive on Gaza after a two-month ceasefire in the Palestinian territory collapsed on March 18.

'World stands by'

Bassal earlier reported 15 dead in strikes on the Tuffah district east of Gaza City and 11 killed elsewhere in the territory.

One strike hit a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing eight Al-Qidra family members and wounding 12, he said.

The dead were aged between two and 54, he added.

AFP footage from Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital showed wounded children crying on hospital beds while bodies covered in blankets arrived in ambulances.

"They were sleeping and the house collapsed on them," said Abir Shehab, adding that her brother had been killed.

"We die of hunger, we die of war, we die of fear, we die of everything, and the whole world stands by and watches us die," she said.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the strikes.

On Wednesday, Hamas reiterated its call for a "comprehensive" agreement to end the war.

Israel demands the return of all captives seized in Hamas' unprecedented 7  October 2023 attack and the group's disarmament, which it has rejected as a "red line".

Hamas has consistently demanded that a truce deal must lead to the war's end, a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a surge in humanitarian aid.

"Hamas and the resistance factions insist on reaching a comprehensive agreement and a full package to end the war and aggression, along with a roadmap for the day after," political bureau member Bassem Naim told AFP on Wednesday.

'Desperate attempts'

"There are desperate attempts ahead of (US President Donald) Trump's visit to the region... to force through a partial deal," he said.

Trump is due in the Gulf next week for talks with the powerful monarchies.

An Israeli official said this week the expanded Gaza offensive would entail the "conquest" of Gaza.

Before it begins, a senior Israeli security source had said the timing of troop deployments would allow a "window of opportunity" for a possible captive deal coinciding with Trump's visit.

"We want to try and get as many hostages saved as possible," Trump said at the White House, without elaborating.

The health ministry in Gaza said Wednesday at least 2,545 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the war's overall toll to 52,653, mostly civilians.

The foreign ministers of Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and Slovenia in a joint statement Wednesday said they "firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza".

UN rights chief Volker Turk voiced concerns that Israel's plans to expand its offensive aim to create conditions threatening Palestinians' "continued existence" in Gaza.

He said they "will almost certainly cause further mass displacement, more deaths and injuries of innocent civilians".