A number of delegates in a UN Security Council meeting have voiced concerns over the Israeli military's attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip, while the United States expressed a stance to defend Israel.

At the outset of the emergency meeting on Friday, all the delegates stood for a minute of silence to remember civilians killed in Israel and Gaza.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the council that the situation in Gaza is "impossible to describe."

Noting that hospital corridors are crammed with people who are injured and sick, and surgeries are performed without anesthesia, Tedros said, "A child is killed every ten minutes in Gaza."

He also said four hospitals have been "put out of action" in the last 48 hours alone, adding that "we continue to call for a ceasefire, to prevent further deaths of civilians and further damage to Gaza's hospitals and health facilities."

United Arab Emirates ambassador to the UN, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said there can be no doubt that the attacks by Israel are "cruel and inhumane."

Israel's ambassador Gilad Erdan accused Hamas of using medical workers and patients as human shields.

Deputy US ambassador Robert Wood said all civilians must be respected and protected. But he also said Hamas puts weapons and ammunition in hospitals and schools, "deliberately and callously" endangering civilians.