The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres has expressed shock after the renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians in the besieged strip.
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"The secretary-general is shocked by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza," UN spokesman Rolando Gomez said during a press briefing in Geneva.
The surprise airstrikes, which killed at least 413 people, shattered a ceasefire that had been in place since January, raising fears of fully reigniting the 17-month-long genocidal onslaught on Gaza.
Gomez added that the UN chief "appeals for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be re-established, and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally."
Other UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations also condemned the strikes.
UN rights chief Volker Turk expressed horror at the attacks, saying they will "add tragedy onto tragedy."
"This nightmare must end immediately," Turk emphasized, adding that "the last 18 months of violence have made abundantly clear that there is no military path out of this crisis."
"The only way forward is a political settlement, in line with international law. Israel's resort to yet more military force will only heap further misery upon a Palestinian population already suffering catastrophic conditions," he concluded.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned that resuming hostilities would fuel "hell on Earth."
"Awful scenes of civilians killed, among them children, followed waves of heavy bombardment from Israeli forces overnight," the UNRWA chief posted on X.
"Fueling 'hell on Earth' by resuming the war will only bring more despair and suffering. A return to the ceasefire is a must."
Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF spokeswoman based in Gaza, described the harrowing impact of the strikes.
"People were woken up very abruptly by very loud explosions in the middle of the night as Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday," she said.
"The ground was trembling," Bollen noted, adding, "This nightmare scenario has been on everyone's mind. It's just heartbreaking that it is materializing right now, shattering the last piece of hope that people had."
She called for the immediate reinstatement of the ceasefire and the lifting of the blockade on aid supplies without delay.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders also highlighted the dire situation, stating that its teams had received large numbers of wounded patients at their field hospital, clinic, and at the Nasser Hospital.
Israeli officials stated that their attacks were open-ended and expected to escalate further.
The Gaza truce largely halted more than 15 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza but its future is in limbo after Israel refused to enter talks on the second phase of the ceasefire after the first one ended in early March.
Hamas said Israel was "deciding to overturn the ceasefire agreement," describing it as "a decision to sacrifice the occupation's prisoners and impose a death sentence on them."
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior leader, said the strikes aimed to "undermine the ceasefire agreement and attempt to impose a surrender agreement, written in the blood of Gaza."
