LONDON Britain would discuss a humanitarian pause in the conflict in Gaza to facilitate aid shipments, but does not want a wholesale ceasefire as that would only benefit Hamas militants, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Israel's military intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight, amid international calls for a pause in fighting to let aid into the Palestinian enclave and prevent many more deaths.

"A wholesale ceasefire would only serve to benefit Hamas," Sunak's spokesperson said.

"Humanitarian pauses - which are temporary, which are limited in scope - can be an operational tool, and obviously that is something we could consider, and have been discussing."

The spokesperson said the government did not agree with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the attacks by Hamas earlier this month "did not happen in a vacuum," comments which have sparked an angry response from Israel.

"We don't agree with that characterisation that's been put forward," the spokesperson said of Guterres' remarks but did not not call on him to resign.

"We are clear there is and can be no justification for Hamas' barbaric terrorist attack."

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Writing by Alistair Smout; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)