UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The president of the UN General Assembly (GA), Miguel D'Escoto, Sunday lashed out at the Israeli air strikes on Gaza which left at least 270 people dead, saying the Israeli move represents "severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law."

    A statement, issued here early Sunday by his spokesperson, said:" The Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an occupying power and in the requirements of the laws of war."

    "The behavior by Israel in bombarding Gaza is simply the commission of wanton aggression by a very powerful state against a territory that illegally occupies," the statement said.

    "Time has come to take firm action if the United Nations does not want to be rightly accused of complicity by omission," the statement said.

    The GA president listed Israeli violations in the statement:

    -- Collective punishment: the entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.

    -- Targeting civilians: the air strikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.

    -- Disproportionate military response: the air strikes have not only destroyed every police and security office of Gaza's elected government, but have killed and injured hundreds of civilians; at least one strike reportedly hit groups of students attempting to find transportation home from the university.

    "I remind all member states of the United Nations that the UN continues to be bound to an independent obligation to protect any civilian population facing massive violations of international humanitarian law -- regardless of what country may be responsible for those violations," the president said in the statement.

    "I call on all member states, as well officials and every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move expeditiously not only to condemn Israel's serious violations, but to develop new approaches to providing real protection for the Palestinian people," he added.