Israel and Palestine heading for ‘uncontainable’ crisis, UN chief warns

Forty-two Palestinians killed by airstrikes in Gaza as Hamas launches more rocket attacks on Israel

The eruption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is heading for an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis", the UN secretary general has warned after a day of significant escalation with 42 Palestinians killed by airstrikes in Gaza.

The death toll made it the deadliest single attack since fighting broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas a week ago. Fifty Palestinians were injured. Meanwhile, air-raid sirens sounded for the seventh consecutive day across southern Israel as Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza launched more rocket attacks into the country - and reaching further - than in the entirety of the 2014 war.