The UN Security Council (UNSC) is to hold an open meeting Thursday on the mounting bloodshed in the Gaza Strip where 18 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed by Israeli shelling Wednesday, diplomats said.
The meeting was announced just as Qatar, the lone Arab member of the 15-member council, circulated a draft resolution condemning what it called the Israeli "massacre" of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun.
The text also calls for "an immediate cease-fire" between Israelis and Palestinians, the dispatch of a UN observer force to monitor the truce and establishment of a committee to probe the Beit Hanoun killings.
It also urged the international community, including the diplomatic Quartet -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- to take immediate steps to help revive the moribund Middle East peace process.
UN chief Kofi Annan meanwhile expressed shock at the Israeli military operations in Gaza.
"The secretary general was shocked to learn about the Israeli military operation ...in Beit Hanoun, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 18 Palestinians, including eight children and seven women," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday in a statement.
"The secretary general reiterates his call to the Israeli government to cease its military operations in Gaza without delay and calls on the Palestinian side to also halt attacks against Israeli targets," the statement added.
The Security Council held closed-door consultations on the Gaza violence on Wednesday shortly after it was criticised for its inaction by Palestinian UN observer Ryad Mansour.
"The Security Council has to react immediately in order to stop this aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people," Mansour said. "The longer the international community takes to react properly to this violation of international law, the longer Israel will continue with its aggression."
He pointed out that the Arab group at the UN, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement earlier this week called for an immediate meeting of the council.
The 18 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday when Israeli shells slammed into their Gaza homes in an attack that drew world-wide condemnation and vows of renewed suicide bombings.
The deaths prompted moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to accuse Israel of destroying peace hopes and rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to call for renewed suicide attacks.
Israel's main and most powerful ally, the United States, called the strike a "terrible tragedy that we deeply regret," but urged Palestinians to exercise restraint.
While Israeli leaders offered regret about the "tragedy" and offered aid for the wounded, the international community urged a halt to Gaza operations, which have killed more than 300 Palestinians since a soldier's capture in late June.
Condemnation poured in from the United Nations, the European Union, the Middle East and Europe over what Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called a "black day".
The 22-nation Arab League called an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers.