Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, has called for an "immediate, verifiable ceasefire'' in Libya and urged government forces to stop attacking civilians.
Ban said on Wednesday there must also be unimpeded access for humanitarian workers trying to deliver aid to those affected by the fighting.
"First and foremost there should be an end to the fighting in Misurata and elsewhere. Then we will be able to provide humanitarian assistance and in parallel we can continue our political dialogue," Ban said.
Ban's comments followed a call from Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, for a pause in hostilities to allow food, water, medical supplies and other aid to be delivered to needy populations.
Meanwhile, NATO said a renewed bombing campaign against Tripoli was not targeting Muammar Gaddafi personally, as explosions rocked the Libyan capital once again overnight.
Explosions could be heard in eastern Tripoli for almost an hour early on Wednesday morning as jets flew overhead, a witness told the AFP news agency.
The explosions began about 7:30 am (0530 GMT) and continued sporadically until 8:15 am (0615 GMT), the witness said. On Tuesday, NATO launched strikes in Tripoli on targets that appeared to include Gaddafi's compound, witnesses said.
"All NATO targets are military targets, which means that the targets we've been hitting, and it happened also last night in Tripoli, are command and control bunkers," Brigadier General Claudio Gabellini, chief operations officer of NATO's Libya mission told reporters.
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