This Tuesday, we witnessed the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza after the October 7 attack on its soil by Hamas. Reportedly, more than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes, bringing the total death toll in Gaza to 5,791. The numbers will rise further as air raids show little sign of abating, deepening a humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave where aid agencies are still struggling to reach civilians.

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What's wrong with the US response to the Gaza crisis

Against this backdrop, the Unicef has called for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, decrying the staggering number of child casualties as "a growing stain" on humanity's conscience. About 2,360 children have been killed in less than three weeks, and a further 5,364 children have been injured. Major media outlets have also reported how Gaza's hospitals are ceasing to function without water and fuel for generators. This collective punishment of Palestinians and the blocking of crucial aid into Gaza have been rightly described by Human Rights Watch as a war crime.

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Is there a prospect of peace under Netanyahu’s extremist government?

It is clear to any reasonable observer that there is a dire need for an immediate ceasefire. Which is why it is baffling to see certain world leaders continue to veto and resist anti-war resolutions at the UN Security Council. Last week, the US vetoed a resolution that would have called for a pause in fighting, and an earlier Russian-drafted resolution was also rejected. The blind support for Israel from its allies is only emboldening the state, which has now declared it will no longer grant visas to UN representatives to "teach them a lesson" after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of the "clear violations of international humanitarian law" in Gaza.

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Save Gaza from further bloodshed

Given that 80 percent of Gaza's inhabitants relied on international aid before the war, Israel's latest stance on the UN is deeply concerning. UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations must be allowed to operate within Gaza to take crucial aid to its devastated population. It is not only morally reprehensible for Israel's allies to turn their backs on them – if Israel is allowed to continue to commit war crimes with impunity, what precedent does it set for other countries violating international law? What does it say about the state of the international justice system? World leaders, especially Israel's allies, must remember that we are all watching. The people need to know that the rules apply to all, not just those who do not have the power to abuse them.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the world is facing "a direct existential threat" and must rapidly shift from dependence on fossil fuels by 2020 to prevent "runaway climate change."

The UN chief called the crisis urgent and decried the lack of global leadership to address global warming.

"Climate change is moving faster than we are," Guterres said. "We need to put the brake on deadly greenhouse gas emissions and drive climate action."

He said people everywhere are experiencing record-breaking temperatures — and extreme heatwaves, wildfires, storms and floods "are leaving a trail of death and devastation."

As examples, Guterres pointed to Kerala, India's worst monsoon flooding in recent history, almost 3,000 deaths from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year, disappearing Arctic sea ice, some wildfires so big that they send ash around the world, oceans becoming more acidic threatening food chains, and high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere threatening food security for billions of people.

Guterres said scientists have been warning about global warming for decades, but "far too many leaders have refused to listen — far too few have acted with the vision the science demands."

When some 190 nations signed the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change they agreed to limit the global temperature increase by 2100 to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees.

"These targets were the bare minimum to avoid the worst impacts of climate change," Guterres said. "But scientists tell us that we are far off track."

"According to a UN study, the commitments made so far by parties to the Paris agreement represent just one-third of what is needed," the secretary-general said.

Guterres said the mountain that needs to be climbed is very high — but not insurmountable.

"We need to rapidly shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels," he said. "We need to replace them with clean energy from water, wind and sun. We must halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and change the way we farm."

He appealed for leadership — "from politicians and leaders, from business and scientists, and from the public everywhere" — to break what he called the current "paralysis" and act now.

"If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us," Guterres warned.

The alternative to moving to green energy, he said, "is a dark and dangerous future."

Guterres said that when he addresses world leaders at their annual General Assembly gathering in two weeks, he will tell them "that climate change is the great challenge of our time" and what is missing is leadership and a sense of urgency to respond.

He said an international meeting in Bangkok that ended Sunday made some progress on negotiations to help reach an agreement in December in Poland on guidelines for implementing the 2015 Paris accord — "but far from enough."

"Nothing less than our future and the fate of humankind depends on how we rise to the climate challenge," Guterres said. "Keeping our planet's warming to well below 2 degrees (Celsius) is essential for global prosperity, people's well-being and the security of nations."

He said that is why he will convoke a climate summit for world leaders in September 2019 "to bring climate action to the top of the international agenda."

Guterres said technology is on the side of those seeking to tackle climate change.

He cited the rising use of renewable energy, saying "today, it is competitive with — and even cheaper — than coal and oil, especially if one factors in the cost of pollution." And he singled out innovative programs in China, Sweden, Morocco, Scotland and Thailand.

Guterres also pointed to other signs of hope including oil-rich Saudi Arabia investing heavily in renewable energy and oil-rich Norway's sovereign wealth fund — the largest in the world — moving away from investments in coal as well as in palm and pulp paper companies because of the forests they destroy.