UN chief Antonio Guterres has condemned the “epic human suffering” and “collective punishment” of Palestinian civilians, AFP reports.

He and other world leaders have repeatedly called for a ceasefire while Israel has vowed to push on until Hamas is defeated, a position backed by its powerful ally the United States.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the fighting and said its Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate.

“If we act in a strategically correct way and encourage emigration, if there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse of the day after will be completely different,” Smotrich told Israeli army radio.

There was no suggestion that the minister’s proposals had the support of the government as a whole but Hamas swiftly condemned his comments as a “call to expel two million Palestinians” and a “war crime”.