UN rights chief says 'horrified' by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza as forces ramp up annexation of West Bank

The UN human rights chief said he was horrified by Israeli' strikes on Gaza which Palestinian authorities say have killed hundreds, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

"I am horrified by last night's Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza, which killed hundreds, according to the Ministry of Health in the strip. This will add tragedy onto tragedy," said High Commissioner Volker Turk in a statement.

"Israel's resort to yet more military force will only heap further misery upon a Palestinian population already suffering catastrophic conditions."

The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.