Israel's Gaza plan risks 'another calamity': UN official

The United Nations Security Council held a rare emergency weekend meeting after Israel said its military would "take control" of Gaza City in a plan approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu's security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism.

"If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction," UN Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council.

Britain, a close ally of Israel which nonetheless pushed for an emergency meeting on the crisis, warned the Israeli plan risked prolonging the conflict.

"It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed," said British deputy ambassador to the UN James Kariuki.

But Netanyahu said Sunday his country was "talking in terms of a fairly short timetable because we want to bring the war to an end," as he insisted Israel did not want to occupy Gaza.

Outside the meeting at UN headquarters in New York, a small but noisy protest calling for an end to the conflict was met by a large police presence.

Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said Friday that "this escalation by the Israeli government is going in total contradiction to the will of the international community."

The United States, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is likely to seek to shield its staunch ally Israel from any practical measure of UN censure.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said ahead of the meeting that "Israel will not stop fighting for the release of all the hostages -- and ensuring the safety and security of our citizens is our duty."