UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca (Front) speaks at a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 5, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

A senior UN official on Tuesday warned against the possible expansion of Israeli military operations through the Gaza Strip.

The latest reports regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's possible decision to expand Israel's military operations through the entire Gaza Strip, if true, are deeply alarming, said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca.

"This would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining (Israeli) hostages in Gaza," Jenca told the Security Council in a briefing.

"International law is clear in this regard. Gaza is and must remain an integral part of the future Palestinian state," he stressed.

As declared by the International Court of Justice, in its July 2024 Advisory Opinion, Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory, and to bring to an end its unlawful presence there as rapidly as possible, he said.

"The situation in Gaza is horrifying. It is unbearable," said Jenca, noting that Palestinians are subjected to squalid, inhumane conditions on a daily basis.

Since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023, over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and over 8,100 injured while trying to access food supplies since the end of May this year, including in the vicinity of militarized aid distribution sites run by the United States in Gaza, Jenca added.

"The deaths and injuries continue to mount, day by day, with no end in sight to the suffering," he said.

Israel continues to severely restrict humanitarian assistance entering Gaza, and the aid that is permitted to enter is grossly inadequate. Hunger is everywhere in Gaza, Jenca told the council.

"I would like to echo the (UN) secretary-general's condemnation of the ongoing violence in Gaza, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families," said Jenca. "Civilians must be respected, protected and never targeted or deliberately deprived of food or access to other lifesaving aid. Doing so is a war crime."

The UN official called on Israel to immediately allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of sufficient amounts of humanitarian relief for civilians in need to avert further suffering and loss of life.

There is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza or the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jenca said. "We must establish political and security frameworks that can relieve the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, start early recovery and reconstruction, address the legitimate security concerns of Israelis and Palestinians, and secure an end to Israel's unlawful occupation and achieve a sustainable two-state solution," he said.