The UN Security Council is expected to issue a communique in what will be its first response to the latest Israeli military offensives against the Gaza Strip, the council presidency said late Wednesday.

Hardeep Singh Puri, the Indian UN ambassador who holds the rotating council presidency for November, made the statement to the press at the end of a closed-door emergency council meeting.

The communique is being translated into various UN working languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French and Russian, he said, adding that its major content includes the expression of the facts.

"There wasn't any attempt to adopt a statement," Puri said of the closed council meeting. "We have a communique, and the communique will be available."

The Security Council invited representatives of Palestine and Israel at the closed-door meeting, and representatives of all the 15 council members also aired their views on the Israeli military offensives against the Gaza Strip, Puri said.

Representatives of other countries were also present at the closed council meeting, but they did not speak at the council gathering, he said.

The meeting was convened to show "the urgency of this situation," Puri said, adding that he did not want to "speculate" on the specific council response to the Israeli military action, strongly condemned by the Palestinians and the Arab world.

The conflict between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been escalating in recent days. On Saturday, Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile against a patrol jeep of the Israeli Defense Forces, wounding four soldiers.

In retaliation, the Israeli Air Force carried out several air strikes on Palestinian targets in Gaza and killed a Hamas military commander. A large number of Israeli troops amassed along the border.

"I'm not in the business of speculating," Puri said. "As the president of the council, I like to take developments as they come. If the situation so warrants, and if there is a request from a member state, or a member of the council, the council will certainly rise to the occasion and assume its responsibility."

However, Puri, speaking in his national capacity, underlined the need for both the Israelis and Palestinians to "exercise maximum restraint" in order to avoid further deterioration of the situation.

"The violence has to stop," he said, adding that "We will monitor the situation" on the ground.