Fierce hostilities continue across Gaza from the air, sea, and on the ground, the UN's top humanitarian official told Member States on Friday, reporting that 41,000 houses have now been destroyed or severely damaged.
More than 1.5 million Gazans are displaced, 18 hospitals have shut down, and hundreds of thousands are living in fear and under continuing Israeli bombardment.
"Casualties continue to mount, with the dead reportedly exceeding 11,000 people - the majority of them children and women," said Emergency Relief Coordinator and Humanitarian Affairs chief, Martin Griffiths.
"The actual total, however, is likely much higher as figures have not been updated for five days due to a collapse of communication networks in Gaza," he added.
Mr. Griffiths, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, further stated that across Gaza, but particularly in the north, food and water supplies are running perilously low, and the lack of fuel means communications and essential services like water desalination are progressively failing.
Free the hostages
Across the border, civilians in Israel endure deep pain of their own as they mourn the brutal, inhumane killing of 1,200 people, he added, stressing that the nearly 240 hostages - from babies to octogenarians - must be released immediately and without condition.
Mr. Griffiths reiterated the UN's 10-point plan setting out the necessary requirements for an effective humanitarian response.
He called on UN Member States to help achieve these objectives.
Basic needs
"We are not asking for the moon. We are asking for the basic measures required to meet the essential needs of the civilian population and stem the course of this crisis," he stressed.
In conclusion, Mr. Griffiths warned that for as dire as the situation is in Gaza, "it could get far worse."
"If we do not take action now, this is a conflict that could spread its tendrils further into other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and beyond, and drag the region into a conflagration with even more catastrophic consequences," he said.
