Two months into Israel's full blockade on aid into Gaza, humanitarians described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and people fighting over water, with aid operations on the "verge of total collapse".
The United Nations and the Red Cross sounded the alarm on Friday at the dire situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, demanding international action.
"The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned in a statement.
"Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate."
Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.
It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.
Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said a week ago that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens.
Israel has closed Gaza's crossings since March 2, blocking essential supplies from entering the enclave despite multiple reports of famine in the war-devastated territory.
'Becoming impossible'
"Food stocks have now mainly run out," Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva on Friday via video link from Gaza City.
"Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry," she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food".
"The blockade is deadly."
Water access was also "becoming impossible", she warned.
"In fact, as I speak to you, just downstairs from this building, people are fighting for water. There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water," she said.
The situation is so bad, she said that a friend had described to her a few days ago seeing "people burning ... because of the explosions and there was no water to save them".
At the same time, Cherevko lamented that "hospitals report running out of blood units as mass casualties continue to arrive".
"Gaza lies in ruins, Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion."
South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Spain deplore Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians and its unlawful occupation.
