Israel 'is heading for full-scale WAR', UN warns, as clashes between Jews and Arabs spark 'civil war' in one city: 43 Palestinians and five Israelis now dead as Gaza is bombarded and Hamas rockets continue to fall
- 'Stop the fire immediately. We're escalating towards a full-scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation,' Tor Wennesland UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process tweeted
- Last night's barrages levelled tower blocks in Gaza as death toll rose to 43 Palestinians, including 13 children
- Rockets from suspected Hamas strongholds have killed five Israelis, including two women and a child
- The Israeli military said militants have fired more 1,050 rockets since the conflict began, with 200 falling short
- Just after daybreak Wednesday, Israel unleashed dozens of airstrikes in the course of a few minutes
- Two infantry brigades were dispatched to the area of a downed Hamas drone, raising fears of ground invasion
- Despite international condemnation for the violence Netanyahu vowed last night to 'step up' attacks The United Nations has warned Israel is heading 'towards a full-scale war' as the air force continued pounding the Gaza Strip this morning in retaliation for hundreds of rockets launched by Hamas.
'Stop the fire immediately. We're escalating towards a full-scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation,' Tor Wennesland UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process tweeted.
Barrages levelled tower blocks in Gaza last night as the death toll rose to 43 Palestinians, including 13 children and three women, health officials in the territory said. Another 233 people were wounded.
Rockets from suspected Hamas strongholds have killed five Israelis, including two women and a child.
Israel says the militants have fired more than 1,050 rockets since Monday, with 200 of them falling short and landing inside Gaza, injuring many of their own, while others have been ripped apart by the Iron Dome defence system.
Just after daybreak on Wednesday, Israel unleashed dozens of airstrikes in the course of a few minutes, targeting police and security installations belonging to Hamas.
The Israeli Defence Forces dispatched two infantry brigades to the area of a downed militant drone, indicating preparations for a possible ground invasion.
Boris Johnson condemned the spiralling conflict this morning hours after his former counterpart Donald Trump blamed 'weak' Joe Biden for allowing things to escalate.
'I am urging Israel and the Palestinians to step back from the brink and for both sides to show restraint,' the Prime Minister said. 'The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties.'
Despite international condemnation for the bloodshed, the worst since the 2014 war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for ceasefire, vowing last night to 'step up' attacks.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in turn that 'if Israel wants to escalate, we are ready for it'.
The tensions began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Muslim neighbourhoods ignited protests and clashes with police. On Monday, a riot on Temple Mount left hundreds of Palestinians wounded before Hamas started launching rockets.
A fire rages at an oil refinery in the southern town of Ashkelon which has been heavily targeted by hundreds of Hamas rockets fired since Monday
Black smoke billows after a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip early on Wednesday
A Palestinian man looks out at a destroyed tower block in Gaza this morning following a night of heavy bombardments by the Israeli Air Force
A Palestinian woman walks in front of a destroyed building on Wednesday after it was shelled by the Israeli Defence Force
Smoke rises during an Israeli air strike on suspected Hamas targets in Gaza City on Wednesday
Palestinian rescuers evacuate an elderly woman from a building following Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Hamas militants and their allies have fired more than 1,000 missiles at Israel, though many have been shot down by the Iron Dome defence system, while others have landed inside Gaza. The Israeli towns of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Yehud have been struck, as well as the most populous city, Tel Aviv. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Air Force has targeted suspected Hamas strongholds in Gaza City as well as the southern settlements Rafah and Khan Yunis
Palestinian women check the damage inside their apartment on Wednesday morning after it was bombed by the Israelis
Smoke billows from an Israeli bombardment at sunrise on Khan Yunish in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
A Palestinian father carries his children away from their home to head to a safer neighbourhood after a bombardment warning on Wednesday
A Palestinian man takes pictures of the aftermath of a bombardment on Wednesday morning as a mound of dirt lies in the street beside mangled cars in Gaza City
Smoke billows from an Israeli air strike on a tower block in Gaza as it collapses. The destruction of apartment apartment towers was among several tactics used during the 2014 war that are now the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes. Israel is not a member of the court and has rejected the probe.
A fire rages at sunrise in Khan Yunish in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning as Israel's bombardment of Hamas targets continues
People gather at the site of a levelled tower block in Gaza City last night after an Israeli airstrike
Display mannequins from a damaged clothing shop are scattered amid the debris outside the heavily-damaged Al-Jawhara Tower in Gaza on Wednesday morning
An overturned car lies in the street filled with debris after a tower block was levelled in Gaza by Israeli warplanes last night
A thick black column of smoke and red flames rise into the sky over Gaza on Wednesday during Israeli bombardmentsThe International Criminal Court at the Hague announced this morning it was looking at possible 'crimes' committed as the ferocious cross-border engagement entered its third day.
More than a hundred Hamas rockets were launched at Israel's most populous city, Tel Aviv, last night after a tower block in Gaza suspected of being a Hamas headquarters was destroyed by an Israeli air strike.
The Israeli Defence Forces claim they have assassinated several top militant commanders, including Hassan Kaogi, head of the Hamas intelligence department, in their airstrikes.
They accuse the Palestinian fighters of using their own people as human shields, but the civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip have only hardened the position of the extremists who have launched hundreds more missiles.
In Israel's central city of Lod, a girl and her father were killed in the early hours of Wednesday by rocket fire from Gaza. Israel's foreign ministry identified the girl as 16-year-old Nadin Awad, an Arab Israeli.
Her cousin, Ahmad Ismail, told public broadcaster Kan that he was near Nadin when she was killed alongside her father Khalil Awad, 52.
'I was at home, we heard the noise of the rocket. It happened so quickly. Even if we had wanted to run somewhere, we don't have a safe room,' Ismail told Kan.
Lod also saw riots after thousands of mourners joined a funeral for an Arab man killed by a suspected Jewish gunman the previous night.
The crowd fought with police, and set a synagogue and some 30 vehicles, including a police car, on fire, Israeli media reported.
Paramedics said a 56-year-old man was seriously hurt after his car was pelted with stones.
Yair Revivo, mayor of the Israeli city, called for army back-up to help secure the area, saying 'civil war' was breaking out as residents clashed following the funeral of an Arab man killed by a Jewish local.
'This is Kristallnacht in Lod,' said Revivo, in reference to the Nazi pogrom against German Jews in 1938.
'I have called on the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in Lod. To call in the IDF. To impose a curfew. To restore quiet. There is a failure of governance.
'This is a giant incident - an Intifada of Arab Israelis. All the work we have done here for years [on coexistence] has gone down the drain.'
Netanhayu made a pre-dawn tour of the city to declare a state of emergency.
'We will not tolerate this; we need to restore calm,' Netanyahu said in Lod. 'If this isn't an emergency situation, I don't know what is. We are talking about life and death here.'
A Palestnian family flee their home on Wednesday to head to a safety from Israeli airstrikes as rubble fills the street
A colossal crater blown into a Gaza street is seen on Wednesday beside wrecked shops and homes in nearby tower blocks
Smoke billows over Gaza on Wednesday as the Israeli bombardments continued throughout the night and into dawn
A Palestinian boy walks past rubble on a street in Gaza City on Wednesday after bombardments by the Israeli Air Force throughout the night
Cars are wrecked by rubble after buildings collapsed last night in Gaza during the Israeli barrages
An Israeli security officer comforts a man in the town of Holon near Tel Aviv during rocket attacks by militants in Gaza on Tuesday night
Two Palestinian women survey the damage to their bombed out flat in Gaza City on Wednesday morning
A column of thick black smoke rises into the sky over Gaza City on Wednesday morning as the Israeli bombardment rages on
An Iron Dome aerial defence system battery is seen in the foreground as fire rages early on Wednesday at Ashkelon's refinery, which was hit by Hamas rockets
Thick columns of black smoke rise into the sky over Gaza on Wednesday amid renewed Israeli bombardments
Smoke rises across the horizon over Gaza on Wednesday as the Israeli Air Force continued pounding targets in the city
An Israeli man walks past the remains of a rocket fire by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from the Gaza Strip in the southern town of Ashkelon
Clouds of dark smoke are seen rising over Gaza City on Tuesday night after an Israeli air strike
A fire rages inside Ashkelon's oil refinery on Wednesday morning in the southern Israel after it was struck by Hamas rockets
Pictured: Smoke rises from the streets of Gaza after Israeli air strikes were launched amid tit-for-tat strikes against Hamas
Asked whether the actions of the police against protesters may have played a role, he shut down the suggestion, saying: 'These events have no excuse; this is fundamental hate.'
It comes after the PM, speaking after two women were killed in Hamas strikes yesterday, said he 'deplored' the deaths in Israel, adding that the country's military would 'further increase both the intensity and the rate' of its own air strikes against Gaza.
'Hamas will be hit in ways that it does not expect,' Netanyahu said. 'We have eliminated commanders, hit many important targets and we have decided to attack harder and increase the pace of attacks.'
The homes of three Hamas commanders were destroyed overnight on Wednesday.
A significant barrage had begun by 3am, with Israel firing into the Gaza Strip.
'In response to HUNDREDS of rockets in the last 24 hours, the IDF has struck a number of significant terror targets and terror operatives across the Gaza Strip, marking our largest strike since 2014,' the IDF confirmed.
'We are currently striking more terror targets in Gaza.' strongholds
A wounded Israeli man in Giv'atayim, Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday after a rocket attack struck a residential area
Palestinian boys walk past the wreckage of a clothing store in central Gaza on Wednesday
A crater in a street in Gaza on Wednesday morning after Israeli bombardments throughout the early hours
Smoke billows from an Israeli air strike on the Hanadi compound in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on Tuesday night
Smoke and flames rise after Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes in Gaza City in the early hours of Wednesday
In Israel, five people including three women have been killed.
One of the three women was in her 60s and another in her 80s, and died during Hamas rocket attacks earlier on Tuesday.
The third woman, aged 50, was killed on Tuesday evening when a rocket hit a building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Lezion.
The renewed confrontation, following weeks of tensions and clashes in the contested Jerusalem, was sparked on Monday evening when Hamas fired a barrage of missiles towards Jerusalem.
It continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, with more rockets being fired by the Islamist group into Tel Aviv, and by Israel into Gaza.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump posted to his website, saying that America 'will always strongly support Israel's right to defend itself' as he criticised Biden over the growing crisis.
Earlier, the White House had said Biden was being briefed on the escalating situation.
Israel's Iron Dome defence system continued to struggle with the volume of rockets being fired from Gaza on Tuesday evening, after an Israeli air strike caused a 13-storey residential building to collapse in Gaza City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours Lod early on Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency in the central city as police accused Arab residents of waging 'wide-scale riots'
Burnt out cars in the Israeli city of Lod this morning after rioting by Arab Israelis, prompting Netanyahu to declare a state of emergency
Mayor of Lod says a 'civil war has erupted' in his city and calls for military intervention
In the central Israeli town of Lod, police on Tuesday fired tear gas and stun grenades after mourners threw rocks at officers during the funeral of an Arab man allegedly shot to death by a Jewish resident the night before.
Thousands took part in the funeral, and police said the crowd set fire to a patrol car, a bus and a motorcycle. Two police officers were injured.
Lod's Mayor Yair Revivo said earlier on Tuesday the he had asked Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare a state-of-emergency in the state in central Israel, which he did so early on Wednesday.
Netanyahu himself went to the city, which is in the suburbs of economic hub Tel Aviv near the Ben Gurion airport, to call for calm.
The city of 77,000 people, including 47,000 Jewish Israelis and 23,000 Arab Israelis, had been the scene of violent clashes on Monday, the local police confirmed to AFP.
Israeli border police vehicles drive past an extinguished burnt vehicle in Lod near Tel Aviv, on May 11, 2021
Mr Revivo said the clashes were 'too big for the police' and called for the military to be deployed.
'This is Kristallnacht in Lod,' he said, in reference to the pogrom against Germany Jews carried out by Nazi Germany in 1938.
'I have called on the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in Lod. To call in the IDF. To impose a curfew. To restore quiet… There is a failure of governance…
'This is a giant incident — an Intifada of Arab Israelis. All the work we have done here for years [on coexistence] has gone down the drain.'
'All of Israel should know, this is a complete loss of control… This is unthinkable. Synagogues are being burned. Hundreds of cars set alight. Hundreds of Arab thugs are roaming the streets…
'Civil war has erupted in Lod… The Orthodox-nationalist community here has guns. I'm imploring them to go back home but they understandably want to protect their homes. Petrol bombs are being thrown into [Jewish] homes. The situation is incendiary.'
The mayor also claimed that Israelis were leaving their homes with guns out of fear for their lives, and that Islamists were allegedly inciting the city's youths.
'We haven't done anything to you,' he pleaded, as he begged for calm in the city.
'Every minute, a car or a synagogue or a school is going up in flames… Our new city hall was broken into and set alight. You don't understand what's happening here. This is worse than the missiles from Gaza,' Revivo said.
He said 'there's been nothing like this in the history of Israel,' according to The Times of Israel.
Palestinians carry the coffin of Palestinian Musa Hassune who was killed by an Israeli gunman's fire, during a funeral ceremony in the city of Lod, on May 11, 2021
The shooting early on Tuesday in Lod came at a time of heightened tensions following weeks of unrest at a contested holy site in Jerusalem and heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The fighting has spilled over into Israel's Arab sector, with protests taking place in dozens of communities across the country.
Thousands of people took part in the funeral in Lod. Israeli police have arrested three people suspected of involvement in the shooting.
'Wide-scale riots erupted by some of the Arab residents and endangering communities,' the police said in a statement. 'Vehicle were burnt and damage caused to property.'
The government said reinforcements had been deployed after Israeli media reported that three synagogues and several businesses were set on fire in Lod.
'Sixteen border police platoons (have been) mobilised in areas in order to deal with the violence,' the police added.
Residents of the collapsed residential block and the surrounding area had been warned to evacuate the area around an hour before the air strike, according to witnesses, and there were no reports of casualties two hours after it collapsed.
Shortly after the attack, Hamas - the Islamist group that rules inside Gaza - and the Islamic Jihad group said they would respond by firing rockets at Tel Aviv, which they did by firing 210 rockets towards Beersheba and Tel Aviv in response to the bombing of the tower buildings in Gaza City.
Air raid sirens and explosions were heard around the city, and the skies were lit up by the streaks of multiple interceptor missiles launched towards the incoming rockets.
Pedestrians ran for shelter, and diners streamed out of Tel Aviv restaurants while others flattened themselves on pavements as the sirens sounded.
The Israel Airports Authority said it had halted take-offs at Tel Aviv airport 'to allow defence of the nation's skies'.
Video broadcast on Israeli Channel 12 television showed interceptor missiles rising above the runways.
'We are now carrying out our promise,' Hamas's armed wing said.
'The Qassam Brigades are launching their biggest rocket strike against Tel Aviv and its suburbs, with 130 rockets, in response to the enemy's targeting of residential towers.'
The sound of the outgoing rockets could be heard in Gaza. As the rockets rose into the skies, mosques across Gaza blared with chants of 'God is great,' 'victory to Islam' and 'resistance.'
One rocket struck a bus in the central city of Holon, just south of Tel Aviv. Medics said three people, including a five-year-old girl, were wounded and the bus went up in flames.
Israel said it had sent 80 jets to bomb Gaza, and dispatched infantry and armour to reinforce the tanks already gathered on the border, evoking memories of the last ground incursion into Gaza to stop rocket attacks, in 2014.
More than 2,100 Gazans were killed in the seven-week war that followed, according to the Gaza health ministry, along with 73 Israelis, and thousands of homes in Gaza were razed.
The U.N. Security will hold emergency consultations Wednesday on the escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
The U.N. Mideast envoy, Tor Wennesland, is expected to brief the 15 council members virtually at the closed meeting, which is being called at the request of China, Tunisia and Norway.
China holds the council presidency this month and its U.N. mission confirms plans for the second emergency meeting in three days. It is an indication of growing international concern about the conflict and where it might lead.
The U.N.'s most powerful body has not yet taken any action.
China, Tunisia and Norway proposed a draft statement at Monday's meeting expressing 'grave concern' at escalating tensions and calling on Israel to cease evictions.
Egypt was been trying to broker a cease-fire into Tuesday, but the cycle of violence was gaining momentum.
Even before the Israeli deaths, the Israeli military said it was sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border and the defence minister Benny Gantz ordered the mobilisation of 5,000 reserve soldiers.
But contrary to Egypt's efforts, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Palestinians to 'build up power' on state television, saying 'Zionists (Israel) only understand the language of force'.
Iran and Israel consider one-another arch enemies, with Iran refusing to recognise the existence of Israel as a state since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Iranian state TV on Tuesday quoted Khamenei as saying that it was a duty of every state to take a stand and condemn this 'evil, criminal, brutal and cruel' action by Israel.
Khamenei also said Palestinian need to be empowered in order to 'force' Israel to accept their rights.
'They should make themselves powerful, resist and confront so as to force the other party to withdraw from crime and surrender to what's right and fair,' Khamenei said.
Iran backs anti-Israel militant groups across the region, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
In the U.S., the White House said on Tuesday that Biden was being briefed daily on developments in Jerusalem and Gaza, and has directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as leaders throughout the Middle East.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden's team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de escalation.
'That is our primary focus,' she said, adding that Biden supports Israel's 'legitimate right to defend itself and its people' and at the same time condemns ongoing 'rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups including against Jerusalem.'
She added that the Biden administration 'will also continue to support a two state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.'
An Israeli girl is comforted by her father next to their damaged home in the city of Yehud, central Israel, after it was struck by a rocket from Gaza last night
Israeli security forces walk past extinguished burnt vehicles in Holon near Tel Aviv, last night after rockets were launched towards Israel from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement
Pictured: Rockets are launched from Gaza city, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, in response to an Israeli air strike on a 12-storey building in the city, towards the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on May 11, 2021
Pictured: Smoke and flame rise after Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes in Gaza City, Gaza on May 12, 2021
Pictured: Streaks of light are seen as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 11, 2021. Rocket fire was so relentless that Israel's Iron Dome rocket-defence system seemed to be overwhelmed on Tuesday
Pictured: Smokes rise from buildings as Israeli fighter jets continue to pound a Palestinian building called 'Hanady' at Al-Rimal neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip, on May 11, 2021
Pictured: Israeli firefighters check out damaged vehicles in the Israeli town of Holon near Tel Aviv, on May 11, 2021, after rockets are launched towards Israel from Gaza. Hamas has vowed to turn Israel into 'a hell' after rockets fired from Gaza killed two Israeli women today following a night of cross-border strikes
Pictured: A bomb drops near a Palestinian building called 'Hanady' at Al-Rimal neighbourhood as Israeli fighter jets continue to pound in the Gaza Strip, on May 11, 2021
By late Tuesday, the violence extended to Tel Aviv, which came under fire from a barrage of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. The outgoing volleys set off air raid sirens across the city, and the main international airport quickly closed But on his own website, Trump posted a message saying that 'America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel's right to defend itself.'
Trump criticised Biden, saying: 'Because Israel's adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked.
'Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden's weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.'
Tuesday also saw a pipeline belonging to an Israeli state-owned energy company hit in a rocket attack from Gaza, an Israeli government official and an energy sector official told Reuters.
Video broadcast by Channel 12 showed flames rising from what appeared to be a large fuel vat near the Israeli Mediterranean city of Ashkelon, south of Tel Aviv.
Operations at a power plant in Ashkelon were not interrupted, Channel 13 TV said.
In Israel, residents of Ashkelon have been running to shelters as air raid sirens wail.
'At around 5am, we were woken by sirens. We had to hide in the wardrobe because there is no shelter in the house,' said Shelly Belayev, whose building was heavily damaged, its facade blackened and an apartment devastated.
'There was a very strong explosion, I have never heard a sound like it. I quickly realised the missile fell here,' she said.
'I went outside, I was in shock.'
Since the sirens began late Monday, barrages of rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave have rained down on the coastal city, located just north of the Gaza Strip.
The deluge continued on Tuesday, with Hamas' armed wing the Qassam Brigades saying it had fired 137 rockets on Ashkelon and nearby Ashdod within just five minutes during the afternoon.
Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, announced on Tuesday that two of its commanders were killed during continued Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Sources within the group said the strikes in central Gaza, also 'wounded eight people, including a woman and her two children.'
On Tuesday, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed it had killed a top Hamas Commander in a statement , saying: 'We just killed the commander of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit, Iyad Fathi Faik Sharir. He was in charge of carrying out anti-tank missile attacks on Israel. Our aircraft are currently striking additional terror targets'.
Other high-profile Hamas targets are also said to have been killed. One was identified as Samah Abed al-Mamlouk, who the IDF said was in a hideout along with other operatives. He is said to have been in charge of the Islamic Jihad's rocket arsenal.
A wounded Palestinian boy is transported to hospital after an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Tuesday afternoon
Fire billows from Israeli air strikes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday morning. At least 26 Palestinians - including nine children - were killed, most by airstrikes, health officials in Gaza reported.
Rockets are fired from Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, towards Israel on Tuesday
Smoke billows and sparks fly from Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Tuesday as Israel and Hamas exchanged heavy fire
Palestinians flee with their children as civilians are evacuated from a building being targeted by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza
A huge explosion from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Tuesday causes sparks to fly into the air as a cloud of black smoke rises above the city
Israeli firefighters extinguish a car which caught on fire after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel
Smoke and flames billow into the air as Israeli warplanes drop bombs on the Gaza strip on Tuesday morning. It comes after militants launched more than 200 rockets at Israel, injuring six civilians
Another - Hassan Abu al-Atta - was also killed. He is thought to have been a deputy commander of Islamic Jihad's Gaza Brigade. He was killed when the IDF struck an eight-storey building in Gaza's Rimal neighbourhood.
The United Nations said it was 'deeply concerned' over the escalation of violence in the region, warning Israel that Palestinians must be allowed the freedom to congregate and protest.
'We condemn all violence and all incitement to violence and ethnic division and provocations,' spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
He added: 'No force should be used against those exercising their rights peacefully.' When use of force is necessary, it should comply fully with international human rights standards, he added.
Colville said the office of UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet was particularly concerned about the impact of the violence on children.
'Detained children should be released,' Colville said. 'Things need to calm down.'
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