The head of the UN's World Food Programme has warned that famine-hit Gaza is "at breaking point", appealing for the urgent revival of its network of 200 food distribution points.
"Enough is enough," the WFP's executive director Cindy McCain said after visiting the besieged Palestinian territory, where Israel is pressing operations in its offensive against Hamas.
"Gaza is at a breaking point. Desperation is soaring - and I saw it first-hand," Ms McCain said in a statement.
Her comments come less than a week after the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza, blaming the "systematic obstruction" of humanitarian deliveries by Israel.
Ms McCain went to Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, where she visited a nutrition clinic keeping children alive and met with displaced mothers who struggle daily to find scraps of food.
"I met starving children receiving treatment for severe malnutrition - and I saw photos of when they were healthy. Today they are unrecognisable," she said.
"We must urgently be able to revive our vast and trusted network of 200 food distribution points across the Strip, community kitchens and bakeries. It is urgent that the right conditions are in place so we can reach the most vulnerable and save lives", she said.
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Ms McCain met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press for a "surge of food assistance to reach the most vulnerable".
She also met Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa in Ramallah, the WFP said.
"What we need is a ceasefire. My heart goes to the mothers in Gaza, as well as to the mothers of the Israeli hostages, whose children are currently starving," Ms McCain said.
Separately, UN rights experts voiced alarm at reports of "enforced disappearances" of starving Palestinians seeking food at distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, urging Israel to end the "heinous crime".
The seven independent experts said in a joint statement they had received reports that a number of individuals, including one child, had been "forcibly disappeared" after visiting aid distribution sites in Rafah.
Israel's military was reportedly "directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid", they added.
Israel, which is preparing to take over Gaza City, is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign.
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The UN declared a famine in the Gaza governorate last week, but Israel has dismissed the report as "fabricated".
The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,895 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The UN considers those figures reliable.
Accreditation: AFP
