The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the Cabinet backed the occupation attempt.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said “this further escalation will result in more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction."

The Israeli government's plan for a full-scale military takeover of Gaza will cause more deaths and suffering and must be halted immediately, the United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said on Friday.