The UN’s rights chief on Friday denounced Israel’s sharp escalation of attacks in the Gaza Strip in recent days as it readied to launch a major new offensive in the enclave.

“This latest barrage of bombs… and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

A two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, and Israel reimposed a total blockade on Gaza that aid agencies say has sparked critical food shortages, with famine looming. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing much of the aid sent into Gaza. It is working on a plan to distribute aid while circumventing the terror group.

Israel has been warning it would launch a major new campaign in the Strip in which it would take over large swaths of Gaza if Hamas failed to agree to a new hostage-ceasefire this week, but talks appear to remain stalled, with the terror group demanding any deal include an Israeli commitment to end the war, a non-starter for Jerusalem.

Hamas continues to hold 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 abducted on October 7, 2023. Among the hostages, 35 are confirmed to be dead, with Israel expressing grave concern for the fate of three others.

Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that a clear intensification in attacks this week raised fears the wider Israeli offensive had begun, which the military confirmed late Friday in a statement saying it started the first stages of the campaign.

“We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said, urging all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault.

Turk said medical services were already in a state of collapse, even as access to shelter continues to shrink amid displacement orders and destruction.

“Families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards, keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade,” the statement said.

Turk highlighted in particular Israeli strikes that hit two of the largest hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, leaving the latter out of service.

“Hospitals are protected at all times — and are even more indispensable during war,” Turk said. “The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent,” he said. “These attacks must cease.”

While hospitals are protected under international law, they lose their protected status if used by a warring party, as Israel says Hamas regularly does.

The strike on the European Hospital targeted Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar in a command center located under the medical facility. The strike on Nasser Hospital targeted “key Hamas terrorists” operating out of a command center at the site, the army said. One of those killed was a Palestinian photojournalist whom the Israeli military has said was a member of Hamas operating under journalistic cover.

The rights chief insisted that “even if, as Israel says, it was targeting Hamas command centers underground, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage at the time of the attack, it is bound by international law to ensure that constant care is taken to spare the lives of civilians. That’s clearly not the case.”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron restated on Friday that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was unacceptable, and said he hoped to discuss the matter soon with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is intolerable,” Macron told reporters as he attended a meeting of European leaders in Albania. “We are reaching a level that we have never seen before, in terms of the humanitarian impact, since the beginning of this.”

Macron said the priority was getting a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, and restoring access to humanitarian aid.

“I will have the opportunity to speak about this with Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have also raised the matter with President Trump,” he said.

Trump, who ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress toward a new ceasefire as Israel steps up its military campaign, has acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.