The UN and other aid groups warned of the grave humanitarian crisis, with virtually no safe places for civilians and medical supplies running critically low.

For the first time in his tenure, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter which allows the SG to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.” Guterres sent a letter to Jose Javier de la Gasca Lopez Domínguez, President of the Security Council, invoking the article, to call the attention of the UNSC to the situation in Gaza.