"Our National Defense Force is undertaking this operation with a maximum care to protect civilians," the Ethiopian ambassador said.
Tegenu also slammed "fake news and information spread on social media and even in mainstream media" about the conflict, noting that "the reality on the ground is different."
Furthermore, the diplomat argued that Tigray rebels were seeking to evade responsibility for a massacre of civilians in the Ethiopian town of May Cadera, which he described as constituting a "genocidal crime."
"The TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front] criminal junta is trying to escape accountability for the genocidal crime it committed both on the Ethiopian National Defense Force and civilians in May Cadera," Tegenu said.
The Ethiopian ambassador urged the African Union and other actors of the international community to condemn the rebels’ rocket attacks which he amounted to "an act of terrorism."
Earlier in the day, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock expressed concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Tigray and called for full access of aid to conflict-affected civilians.
The fighting in Ethiopia's north has been ongoing since early November, when the federal government accused the TPLF, the ruling party in the Tigray region, of attacking a local military base and launched a security operation against it.
Last week, the rebels fired rockets into another northern region, Amhara, and neighboring Eritrea. The rebels claimed that Eritrean soldiers were deployed and fighting against Tigray forces along the border.
The conflict has already pushed over 27,000 Ethiopian refugees to Sudan and triggered fears of its spillover into neighboring countries.
