BRUSSELS - Twenty-six member states of the European Union (EU) called for an "immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire" in the besieged Gaza Strip, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here on Monday.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers, all EU countries except Hungary warned Israel against launching an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which they said would deepen the catastrophe of some 1.5 million refugees crammed into the city.

"An attack on Rafah would be absolutely catastrophic ... it would be unconscionable," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said before the meeting.

Israel's reported plans for an assault on the city have sounded international alarm bells, with many countries urging restraint or cancelation of the operation.