New Zealand's top diplomat Winston Peters on Tuesday urged the world to act to halt the conflict in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, the foreign minister said an immediate cease-fire is needed in Gaza to halt the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
"Palestinian civilians continue to bear the brunt of Israel's military actions. Gaza, which was already facing huge challenges before this conflict, is now a wasteland," Peters said.
"Since the start of the current crisis in Gaza, the veto has been used five times to prevent the Security Council from acting decisively. This has seen the Council fail in its responsibility to maintain international peace and security."
He also called on Hamas to release all remaining hostages immediately and urged Israel to do everything in its power to enable safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access into and throughout Gaza.
"New Zealand is gravely concerned by repeated indications from Israel that it may soon launch a military offensive into Rafah," he said, adding: "Palestinian civilians should not be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas."
During his US visit, Peters will also discuss the Gaza situation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people and took around 250 as hostages.
Over 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 others injured. Much of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed, and 1.9 million of its residents forcibly displaced, leaving them at risk of disease and famine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a date has been set for a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
