Governments must act now to stop the horrors in Gaza, the director-general of the Red Cross has said, adding that the suffering there was reaching a point where it "questions the very foundations of our humanity".
Israel imposed a total blockade of the enclave in March when its devastating military campaign against Hamas resumed after a ceasefire in the 19-month long war.
Dozens of community kitchens in Gaza have shut their doors due to a lack of supplies, closing off a lifeline used by hundreds of thousands of people and raising fears of further malnutrition-related deaths.
"Here is a moment of decision for states and for world actors and for parties to not allow this horror to continue uninterrupted," Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross Pierre Kraehenbuehl told reporters in Geneva.
"Everybody should feel deep indignation about what is happening in Gaza," he said, without attributing blame.
"I can't reconcile myself with the human cost of this conflict and frankly if this is the future of warfare, we should all be terrified."
"We should all be aware that this questions the very foundations of our humanity," he added.
The ICRC has already warned that its humanitarian response is on the verge of collapse in Gaza and Mr Kraehenbuehl said that the next few days would be "absolutely decisive".
"There's a moment when we will run out of everything that's left," he said.
First responders in Gaza run out of supplies
First responders in Gaza said that their operations were at a near standstill, more than two months into a full Israeli blockade that has left food and fuel in severe shortage.
Israel denies a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza, where it plans to expand military operations to force Hamas to free hostages held there since the Iran-backed group's unprecedented October 2023 attack.
"75% of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel," the civil defence agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
He added that its teams, who play a critical role as first responders in Gaza, were also facing a "severe shortage of electricity generators and oxygen devices".
For weeks, UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations have warned of dwindling supplies of everything from fuel and medicine to food and clean water in the coastal territory that is home to 2.4 million Palestinians.
The UN's agency for children, UNICEF, warned that Gaza's children face "a growing risk of starvation, illness and death" after UN-supported kitchens shut down due to lack of food supplies.
Over 20 independent experts mandated by the UN's Human Rights Council demanded action on Wednesday to avert the "annihilation" of Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinians waited in line to donate blood at a field hospital in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, an AFP journalist reported.
"In these difficult circumstances, we have come to support the injured and sick, amid severe food shortages and a lack of proteins, by donating blood", Moamen al-Eid, a Palestinian waiting in the line, said.
'No food or drink'
Hind Joba, the hospital's laboratory head, said that "there is no food or drink, the crossings are closed, and there is no access to nutritious or protein-rich food".
"Still, people responded to the call, fulfilling their humanitarian duty by donating blood" despite the toll on their own bodies, she added.
"But this blood is vital, and they know that every drop helps save the life of an injured."
Israel returned to military operations in Gaza on 18 March after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire stalled.
On Monday, the country's security cabinet approved a new roadmap for military operations in Gaza, aiming for the "conquest" of the territory while displacing its people en masse, drawing international condemnation.
An Israeli security official stated that a "window" remained for negotiations on the release of hostages until the end of US President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf, scheduled from 13-16 May.
Hamas, which is demanding a "comprehensive and complete agreement" to end the war, on Wednesday denounced what it called Israel's attempt to impose a "partial" deal.
According to the civil defence agency, air strikes at dawn killed at least eight people.
The war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Of the 251 people abducted in Israel that day, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas is also holding the body of an Israeli soldier killed during a previous war in Gaza, in 2014.
The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation for the 7 October attack has killed at least 52,653 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.
Gaza rescuers say Israeli strike killed five
Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike killed five people in the north of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
Several more were wounded in the strike "today at dawn on the home of a family in the town of Beit Lahiya", north of Gaza City, the agency's spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told AFP.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the reported strike.
It followed an Israeli bombardment a day earlier that rescuers in Gaza said killed 59 people, most of them in Gaza City.
Yesterday's strikes were among the deadliest since the resumption of Israel's offensive on Gaza after a two-month ceasefire in the Palestinian territory collapsed on 18 March.
A planned expanded offensive revealed by the Israeli military this week has drawn international condemnation.
UN agencies had warned earlier of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which has been devastated by 19 months of war, triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.
Israel's broader offensive, approved by the government amid a two-month aid blockade on Gaza, would include displacing "most" of its residents, its military has said.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 2,545 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in March, bringing the war's overall toll to more than 52,650.
Palestinian militant group Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Yesterday, UN experts demanded action to avert the "annihilation" of Palestinians in Gaza, saying the world faced a decision to "remain passive and witness the killing of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution".
