Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 37 people in the battered Palestinian territory as the military keeps up an intensified offensive.
"Thirty-seven people have been martyred in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip ... today, up until this moment," civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.
Mr Bassal said earlier that the strikes targeted an area where displaced civilians were sheltering in the southern city of Khan Yunis and houses in Gaza City and the central town of Deir el-Balah.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel has stepped up its offensive in what it says is a bid to defeat Hamas, whose 7 October 2023 attack sparked the war.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,335 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 54,607, mostly civilians.
UN criticises US after ceasefire veto
UN Security Council members have criticised the United States after it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, which the US said undermined ongoing diplomacy.
It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States - a key Israeli ally - also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting.
"This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground and emboldens Hamas," the US United Nations envoy Dorothy Shea said ahead of yesterday's 14 to 1 vote, with the US casting the lone vote against.
"This resolution also draws false equivalence between Israel and Hamas," she added.
The draft resolution had demanded "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties".
It also called for the "immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups".
Underlining a "catastrophic humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territory, the resolution, had it passed, would have demanded the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
"This will remain not only a moral stain on the conscience of this council, but a fateful moment of political application that will reverberate for generations," said Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, Asim Ahmad.
China's ambassador to the UN Fu Cong said "today's vote result once again exposes that the root cause of the council's inability to quell the conflict in Gaza is the repeated obstruction by the US".
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President Michael D Higgins said it is important that the international community continues to work to bring an end to the violence, release all remaining hostages and allow sufficient aid into Gaza.
"Now is the time for an immediate call for action and assistance from the international community in its implementation to ensure that there is no further loss of life as people exercise the impossible choice between risking their lives to access aid or staving," he said.
The veto marks the United States first such action since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Israel has faced growing international pressure to end its war in Gaza, which was triggered by the unprecedented 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil.
That scrutiny has increased over flailing aid distribution in Gaza, which Israel blocked for more than two months before allowing a small number of UN vehicles to enter in mid-May.
The United Nations said that was not enough to meet the humanitarian needs.
Recognising Palestinian state now would send 'wrong signal' - Germany
Germany's foreign minister Johann Wadephul has said that recognising a Palestinian state at the moment would send "the wrong signal".
Speaking at a Berlin press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, he said that "negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians must be concluded" first, before the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Spain, Ireland and Norway last year recognised a Palestinian state, and French President Emmanuel Macron has recently stepped up his support for the idea, leading Israel to accuse him of a "crusade against the Jewish state".
Last week, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the occupied West Bank, a day after the government announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory.
Mr Wadephul said that he was "concerned about the extremely tense situation in the West Bank" and that the German government "rejects" the creation of new Israel settlements there as illegal under international law.
He also said, on the Gaza war, that "too little" aid was reaching civilians in the war-torn territory, where the United Nations warned last month that the entire population was at risk of famine.
Mr Wadephul said he had renewed his "urgent request to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza" without restrictions as required by international law.
He also stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas and other enemies, and that "therefore Germany will of course continue to support Israel with arms deliveries, that was never in doubt".
US-backed foundation to open aid distribution centres
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has said it will open two aid distribution centres.
GHF had said earlier that its sites would not open at their usual time due to maintenance and repair work. It did not say when aid distribution would resume.
The group, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, began distributing aid last week.
It shut its facilities yesterday as the Israeli army warned that roads leading to distribution centres were "considered combat zones".
The move followed a string of deadly incidents near distribution sites it operates that drew sharp condemnation from the United Nations.
The UN has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave.
Israeli bombardment killed at least 48 people across the Gaza Strip, including 14 in a single strike on a tent sheltering displaced people, the civil defence agency said.
A day earlier, the civil defence and the International Committee of the Red Cross said 27 people were killed when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF site in southern Gaza. The military said the incident was under investigation.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said after the vote he would now seek a vote on the resolution calling for a ceasefire at the General Assembly.
"We are grateful for your demonstrations and tenacity in the Security Council demanding action, and we also support you in continuing to knock on the door of the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility," he said, thanking the 14 countries that backed the resolution.
Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said that the Palestinian plan to put the resolution to a vote at the General Assembly, where no country can veto it, was pointless, telling countries "don't waste more of your energy".
"This resolution doesn't advance humanitarian relief and undermines it. It ignores a working system in favour of political agendas," he added.
