Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has criticized Israel's UN ambassador for wearing a yellow star as he addressed the Security Council in New York.

"This act disgraces the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel," Yad Vashem chairperson Dani Dayan said in a Hebrew-language post on X, formerly Twitter.

He said he was "sorry to see" the move by the Israeli delegation and suggested they wear the Israeli flag instead. 

"The yellow star symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people and their being at the mercy of others," he said.

"We now have an independent state and a strong army. We are the masters of our own fate. Today we will fasten to our lapel a blue and white flag, not a yellow star."

During an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan displayed the yellow star on his chest and said he would continue to do so until the body condemned the atrocities committed by Hamas militants on October 7.

The 15-member council has not adopted a single resolution on the war between Israel and Hamas.