The UN Security Council is set to hold an urgent meeting on Wednesday on the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. This will be the UNSC's second such session in three days.
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Hamas and Islamic Jihad escalated hostilities against Israel over the past two days, firing over 1,000 rockets as southern and central Israel. Five Israelis have been killed and dozens injured.
The Iron Dome defense system intercepted 90% of rockets fired from Gaza, the IDF said.
Israel has launched a military campaign in retaliation, with massive airstrikes pounding terrorist targets across the coastal enclave. The strikes eliminated over 500 targets, including multiple rocket-launching positions, weapon mills, and rocket pits, the military said.
Wednesday's closed-door UNSC meeting has been requested by Tunisia, Norway, and China. The first session, held on Monday, ended without a statement, with the United States expressing reluctance to adopt a draft resolution proposed by Norway "at this point."
"We want to see to it that steps, whether they emanate from the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority or the UN Security Council, serve, not to escalate or provoke, but to de-escalate," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
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On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the escalation must stop.
"Israeli security forces must exercise maximum restraint and calibrate their use of force," he said in a statement, adding that "the indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars towards Israeli population centers is unacceptable."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
