A senior UN official warned Sunday that Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City could trigger a"new catastrophe" with repercussions far beyond the besieged and devastated territory.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting after Israel announced that its army would"take control of Gaza City," following the approval of the security cabinet, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, for the plan, which sparked international condemnation.

“If these plans are implemented, they could lead to a new catastrophe in Gaza, reverberating throughout the region, causing further forced displacement, killing, and destruction,” UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča told the UN Security Council.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 98 children have died from chronic malnutrition since the outbreak of the conflict in October 2023, including 37 children who died since July, according to authorities in Gaza.

“This is no longer an impending hunger crisis, it is a full-blown famine,” said Ramesh Rajasingham, OCHA’s director of coordination.

"Nearly two million victims are suffering unbearable suffering," Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Sunday, describing Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City as"illegal and immoral," and demanding that foreign journalists be allowed into the territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference, also today, in which he presented the military plan to seize control of Gaza City: “We have decided and given the order, and we have asked the army to invite foreign journalists, more foreign journalists, a large number of them.”

Britain, a close ally of Israel that pushed for the emergency meeting, warned that the Israeli plan would prolong the conflict.

The British Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, James Kariuki, said the plan"will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. It is not a path to a solution, it is a path to more bloodshed."

Outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, a small gathering was held, with participants calling for an end to the war in Gaza, amid a heavy police presence.

The United States, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power, accused countries that supported the council meeting on Sunday of"prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea said,"Israel has the right to decide what is necessary for its security and what measures are appropriate to end the threat posed by Hamas."