The level of violence ravaging Gaza in recent days is unfathomable, the UN rights chief said, with attacks on schools harbouring displaced people and a hospital turned into a “death zone”, AFP reports.

“The horrendous events of the past 48 hours in Gaza beggar belief,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

He also warned that “the killing of so many people at schools turned shelters, hundreds fleeing for their lives from Al-Shifa Hospital, amid continuing displacement of hundreds of thousands in southern Gaza, are actions which fly in the face of the basic protections civilians must be afforded under international law”.

“The pain, dread, and fear etched on the faces of children, women and men is too much to bear. How much more violence, bloodshed and misery will it take before people come to their senses? How many more civilians will be killed?” Turk asked.

“This must stop. Humanity must come first. A ceasefire — on humanitarian and human rights grounds — is desperately needed. Now,” he said.