A senior United Nations official described Gaza as suffering "massive" human rights violations during a visit to the territory today.
"The violation of human rights I think in this territory is massive," Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said during a visit to Beit Hanoun, a town the Israeli army shelled earlier this month, killing 19 civilians.
"The call for protection has to be answered. We cannot continue to see civilians, who are not the authors of their own misfortune, suffer to the extent of what I see."
Ms Arbour, on a five-day trip to the region, spent time at the house of a family who had lost more than a dozen members in a shelling on November 8th, when Israel says a mistake led to the barrage of artillery shells hitting the neighbourhood.
Her visit, the first she has made to the region since becoming commissioner, comes days after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution that "deplored" Israel's shelling of Gaza and called for an immediate cessation of violence.
Asked what she planned to do about the rights violations, Ms Arbour said: "I will help to keep the conscience of the many who care about what happens in this part of the world alive.
"I will speak to the Palestinian Authority about their responsibility to enforce the law, to create an environment in which people can seek protection of the law and, of course, I will also speak to the Israeli authority."
"We need to collectively call on leaders, political, military and militia leaders, to have the courage to break the cycle of violence to ensure the well-being of civilians."
More than 350 Palestinians, almost half of them civilians according to Palestinian doctors, have been killed since Israel launched an offensive in Gaza in late June, following the capture of an Israeli soldier.