File photo shows the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.

The UN chief has warned that the situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating rapidly due to incessant Israeli bombardment as he repeats desperate appeals for a ceasefire to end the nightmare of bloodshed.

The situation in Gaza is growing more desperate by the hour. I regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.

The number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eye, Guterres added.

Death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza exceeded 8,000 on Sunday with women and children accounting for a bulk of the fatalities.

Panic and fear have surged inside Gaza, where over one million people have been displaced, and where communications have gone dark for days because of the damage inflicted on internet lines because of Israeli bombardment.

The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes, Guterres said.

More than two million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life -- food, water, shelter and medical care -- while being subjected to relentless bombardment. I urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink, said the UN chief.

‘Planned genocide’ in Palestine

Meanwhile, Spain’s acting minister of social rights has called on European countries to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel amid the regime’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X, Ione Belarra said European countries should also impose an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel.

She said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all Israeli officials responsible for carrying out bombings against the civilian population in Gaza should be brought before the International Criminal Court.

Belarra added that it’s still possible to stop the genocide.

Today we are here accompanying all the decent people of our country and also all those people throughout Europe who want to ask and demand an end once and for all to this planned genocide, this ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine that is being carried out by the State of Israel, Belarra said.

Of course, (we should) take Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court to be judged as what he is, a war criminal, she said and added: I insist, not with our silence and not with our complicity. We need the European Union to act.

The Spanish minister earlier also slammed the European Union and the US for encouraging serious violations of human rights by Israel.

The remarks come as Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip entered its 23rd day on Sunday. Israel is pounding the besieged territory from ground, sea and air as fighting continues between resistance groups in Gaza and Israeli regime forces.

Israel has confirmed that its ground troops are fighting inside Gaza under a second phase of its aggression against the enclave that began late on Friday. It says infantry, armored, engineering and artillery forces are participating in the attacks on Gaza, accompanied by heavy air fire.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas says its fighters are confronting Israeli troops. The group says it’s fully prepared to tackle the Israeli ground offensive.

Hamas has fired dozens of missiles and rockets at the occupied territories, including the Israeli capital city of Tel Aviv. The movement has also released footage of an attack that destroyed an Israeli armored vehicle.

Israel has been engaged in a ferocious war on Gaza since October 7, when Hamas launched its biggest operation against the occupiers in years.

The surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm came in response to the regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

Fellow Gaza-based resistance movements, including the Islamic Jihad, have contributed to Hamas counter-attacks against Israel since the start of the conflict.

The ongoing Israeli offensive has pushed the Gaza Strip to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians enduring immense suffering and loss.