Israel on Tuesday rejected calls from the international community for a ceasefire, again pledging to destroy Hamas, Sky News reported.

The United Nations, the Palestinians and many other countries made the request at a high-level UN meeting on Tuesday, but Israel’s foreign minister said it was “the country’s right to destroy Hamas.”

Eli Cohen also rejected calls for “proportionality” in the country’s response to Hamas’ surprise attacks on Israel on October 7.

“Tell me, what is the proportionate answer for killing babies, for raping (some) women and burning them, for beheading a child?” he asked. “How can you agree to a cease-fire with someone who has sworn to kill and destroy your very existence?”

He told the UN Security Council that a proportionate response to the massacre would be the “total destruction of Hamas to the last”, calling the extremist group the “new Nazis”.

“Not only Israel has the right to destroy Hamas. This is our duty,” he added.

According to the country’s Ministry of Health, the Hamas attack killed 1,400 people, and subsequent Israeli actions resulted in the deaths of more than 5,700 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

With the support of the USA

A truce in Gaza will only give Hamas a break as Israel steps up airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamist group, the White House reiterated on Tuesday, instead offering “pauses” to ease the delivery of humanitarian aid, AFP reported.

“A ceasefire at this point will only benefit Hamas,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday, also warning that the situation would only get worse for the civilian population.

The UN calls for a ceasefire

The UN Secretary General has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, accusing both sides of killing and wounding civilians in violation of international humanitarian law.

Guterres said the grievances of the Palestinian people could not justify the “horrific and unprecedented acts of terrorism on October 7” by Hamas in Israel and called for the immediate release of all hostages.

But he also emphasized that “these terrible attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

“I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are seeing in Gaza. Let’s be clear: no side of the armed conflict is above international humanitarian law. (…) It is also important to recognize that the attacks by Hamas did not happen out of the blue.

The Palestinian people have been subjected to a suffocating occupation for 56 years. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks of Hamas. And these terrible attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres said, according to Reuters.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called Guterres’ speech “shocking.”

“Mr. Secretary General, what world do you live in? Without a doubt, she is not ours,” he wrote on Twitter, calling for her to resign.