The UN humanitarian chief has said he and Iran’s top diplomat had discussed fears of what an expansion of the Gaza war might entail and had agreed it “would not be good”, AFP reports.

At a Geneva press briefing, United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths voiced deep concern that Israel’s military offensive against Hamas could expand beyond Gaza, “into the north”.

“If there is to be a war in the north with Hezbollah and Israel, then I fear the worst,” Griffiths said.

“We can easily imagine the worst because it will be a war that makes even Gaza with its awful horrors of daily struggle look like just a beginning.”