THE Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations has made an emotional plea to an emergency meeting of the General Assembly to “stop the bombs and save lives!”

But Israel’s envoy to the world body was adamant that “we will not rest until Hamas is obliterated.”

Arab nations expected to adopt a resolution later today calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after the security council’s four failed attempts to agree on any course of action.

It came as hundreds of children and their parents laid out cuddly toys across the entrance to the British Foreign Office this morning in protest against the government’s refusal to call for a ceasefire.

Each toy represented a Palestinian child killed by the Israeli bombardment, supported by the British government, Parents for Palestine said.

Children pinned teddies to the gates of the government department in London, while the names of the 3,000 children killed in Gaza were read out.

Parents chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as they demanded the government end arms sales to the Israeli state and call for an immediate ceasefire.

Kate Joseph of Parents for Palestine said: “We cannot imagine the pain and fear that parents in Gaza are going through.

“Every child everywhere deserves safety — every single life is sacred.

“How are we to explain to our children that our government is actively endorsing the murder of children in Palestine? That we are exporting bombs and refusing to call for a ceasefire?”

Clare Welton, a mother of two who led a chant of “shame” against the government said Britain is “saying OK to arms companies increasing their sales to Israel at this time.

“What we want to see is the UK end its exports to Israel now and push immediately for a ceasefire, an end to the siege and the occupation of Palestine.”

Protest organiser Annie Dowd, a mother of three, said the group was formed 48 hours before the action as they were “absolutely horrified.”

“As a mum, I can’t stomach recent events — I can’t see another Palestinian baby pulled out of the rubble,” she said.

A separate protest was held outside the Israeli ambassador’s home in London this evening organised by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to descend onto the capital tomorrow in what are becoming weekly demonstrations against the government’s inaction.

Protesters will gather at Victoria Embankment at noon and a trade union bloc will assemble at 11am under Hungerford Bridge.

Actions will also take place across Britain with protesters in Manchester gathering at St Peter’s Square at noon.

In Bolton, demonstrators will march from Queen’s Park from 2pm.

At the UN’s emergency session, speaker after speaker spoke in favour of the Arab resolution’s ceasefire call.

After his call for an immediate ceasefire Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said 70 per cent of those killed in Gaza were children and women.

He said: “Is this the war some of you are defending? Can this war be defended? These are crimes. This is barbarism.

“If you do not stop it for all those who were killed, stop it for all those whose lives we can still save.”

Mr Mansour became emotional when he spoke of a Palestinian girl killed before the birthday her father had planned and a man hugging the body of his dead mother and saying: “Come back, and I will take you wherever you want.”

But Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan told the 193-member world body that “a ceasefire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again.”

After quoting several Hamas statements vowing to destroy Israel and the Jews, he said, “Any call for a ceasefire is not an attempt at peace. It is an attempt to tie Israel's hands, preventing us from eliminating a huge threat to our citizens.”

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, speaking on behalf of the 22-nation Arab Group, spoke emotionally of children dying under the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli precision bombs, and some still alive and trapped with no equipment to pull them out.

“The parents can still hear them. They talk to them helplessly, knowing that they are running out of air and are slowly dying,” he said.

Mr Safadi also told Israel that it cannot remain above international law requiring protection of civilians, hospitals, schools, homes and other infrastructure.

“The right to self-defence is not a licence to kill with impunity,” he stressed.

The foreign minister also criticised the United States and its allies whom he accused of “helping Israel by supporting its war.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian accused the United States of directly participating in the war and what he described as a “genocide” against the Palestinians.

He told the General Assembly that “the genocide in Gaza must stop immediately” and warned against “the uncontrollable consequences of the unlimited financial, arms and operational support by the White House to the Tel Aviv regime” which has added to the severe bombardments and killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The emergency General Assembly resumed today.

The resolution due to be put to a vote tonight calls for an immediate ceasefire and demands that all parties respect international law and protect civilians.

It says that essential goods including food, water and medicine should be provided in the Gaza Strip. It also calls for Israel to rescind its order for Gazans to move from the north to the south, for maximum restraint and for the release of all civilians.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion.

Realising that the Palestinians have wide international support the Israeli ambassador has already denounced the resolution as “a disgrace” for not mentioning Hamas.

While Hamas’s assault on October 7 killed around 1,400 Israelis, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air attacks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.