(Adds Security Council statement in paragraph 6)

By Megan Davies

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday it was allocating $7 million from an emergency fund to help provide food and clean water in Gaza, where an Israeli offensive has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians.

The funding will also be used to repair damaged shelters, provide fuel for powering water pumping stations and hospitals, provide clean drinking water in shelters and finance ready-made meals, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said.

Israeli air and ground attacks have pounded Gaza since Dec. 27. Holmes said in a statement that 500,000 people in Gaza had no access to running water.

Separately, Holmes told a Security Council meeting that there must be greater efforts to respect international humanitarian law in conflict zones like Gaza.

"Can we look at what has been happening in Gaza in the last three weeks and say that either Israel or Hamas has come close to respecting fully (humanitarian) rules? I think not," he said, opening a debate on protection of civilians in conflict.

In a statement issued later on Wednesday, the Security Council said it remained committed to addressing the impact of armed conflict on civilians. It said it was deeply concerned that civilians "continue to account for the majority of victims of acts of violence, committed by parties to armed conflicts."

The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 300 children had been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in Gaza.

"Beyond the immediate needs of the children who have lost their homes, have no access to water, electricity and medicine, beyond the horrific physical scars and injuries however, are the deeper psychological wounds of these children," UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said in a statement.

Speaking from Gaza by video-link, a senior U.N. official told reporters an "all-pervasive sense of fear" persisted although diplomatic efforts to end the conflict provided "some glimmer of hope."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon began a Middle East tour on Wednesday to push for peace. "People are very hopeful," said John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

"But we have to have that hope realized. Every hour there is further death and destruction here and that will continue until the conflict stops, the guns fall silent and there's a ceasefire." (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

AlertNet news is provided by