Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Palestinian territory after an Israeli evacuation order sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from Rafah.
More than seven months into the Israel-Hamas war, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid" into the besieged Gaza Strip.
"But a cease-fire will only be the start," Guterres told a donor conference in Kuwait. "It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war."