"The high commissioner reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire to put an end to the killings and the destruction," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva.

Laurence said Turk was "gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon."

He pointed to at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli air strikes between November 22 and 24 alone, including eight children and 19 women.

Also last week, seven paramedics were reportedly killed in three separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, he said, adding to the 226 healthcare workers reportedly killed in Lebanon between 7 October 2023 and 18 November 2024.

"These are further indications of just how brutal this war has been on civilians," he said.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon has killed nearly 4,000 civilians and wounded more than 15,000 since 8 October 2023.

Laurence's remarks come amid reports that the Israeli war cabinet was scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposal to seal a ceasefire deal to end the war in Lebanon.

He warned: "Israeli military action in Lebanon has caused wide-scale loss of civilian life, including the killing of entire families, widespread displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, raising serious concerns about respect for the principles of proportionality, distinction and necessity."

He also highlighted that Hezbollah was continuing to fire rockets into Israel, resulting in civilian casualties.

"Most of these rockets are indiscriminate by nature, prolonging the displacement of many Israeli civilians, which is unacceptable," he said.

Turk, he said, was insisting that "the only way to end the suffering of people on all sides is a permanent and immediate ceasefire on all fronts -- in Lebanon, in Israel and Gaza."

Tel Aviv has refused to sign a ceasefire deal to end its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.