Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on “The Middle East, including the Palestinian question” at U.N., headquarters in New York City, U.S. April 25, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday accused Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of war crimes, vowing that it was time to “obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure” while seeking to keep normalization talks with Saudi Arabia on track.

In a dramatic assault launched from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Saturday, Hamas militants stormed into Israeli towns, killing more than 600 Israelis and escaping with dozens of hostages, in the deadliest day for Israel since the 1973 war.

“These are war crimes, blatant documented war crimes,” said Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan ahead of a closed-door meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council meeting.

“The era of reasoning with these savages is over,” he told reporters. “Now is the time to obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure, to completely erase it, so that such horrors are never committed again.”

Israel pounded Gaza on Sunday, killing hundreds of people in retaliation. Erdan appealed for the international community to fully support Israel and condemn the actions of Hamas.

Home to some two million people, the Gaza Strip has been run by Hamas since it seized control of the territory in 2007. Its economy has long been choked by a blockade imposed by Israel with Egypt’s help.

“Israel keeps saying: the blockade and repeated assaults on Gaza are to destroy Hamas military capabilities and ensure security … its blockade and assaults accomplished neither,” Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters ahead of the Security Council meeting.

“When Israel now tries to justify yet another assault by the same faulty premise, no one should say or do anything to encourage it down this path,” he said.

Diplomats said it was unlikely the Security Council would issue a statement and Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Robert Wood, told reporters that it was not a priority for Washington at the moment. Council statements are agreed by consensus.

“I expect to hear from the other council members very strong condemnation of these heinous acts of terrorism committed against the Israeli people and their government,” Wood said ahead of the council meeting.

He added that there should be no “false equivalencies” between the actions of Hamas and the steps taken by Israel.

China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said, on his way into the council meeting, that it was important to prevent a further escalation and that Beijing condemned all attacks against civilians. He said China was in favor of the Security Council issuing a statement and “having its voice heard.”

The assault by Hamas coincides with U.S.-backed moves to push Saudi Arabia towards normalizing ties with Israel in return for a defense deal between Washington and Riyadh.

“We don’t see any reason that should be off the table,” said Erdan. “We still want it to happen. We’ll do everything that we can to live in co-existence with all of our neighbors.”