The city was home to 1.4 million people before the latest escalation in fighting, the majority of whom had been displaced from other parts of the Palestinian enclave.

In a lengthy statement posted on the agency's website, Philippe Lazzarini said that "when people are displaced, they are exposed, with no safe passage or protection".

"They are forced to leave behind what little they have each time: mattresses, tents, kitchen sets and basic aid items that they cannot carry or afford to transport. They start from zero, each and every time," he wrote.

The UNRWA chief added that the sites where the displaced are going "have no running water or sanitation".

The offensive on Rafah has also involved taking control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt, halting aid operations and deepening a severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, which has suffered from a near-total lack of supplies after months of war.

The UN agency chief said that the situation in the territory was "being compounded by the severe shortage of aid and basic commodities".

"The delivery of aid is near impossible without regular imports of fuel, without stable telecommunications," he said, with Gaza's main crossings largely closed due to the proximity of fighting.

"The crossings must be reopened and access must be safe. Without the reopening of these lifelines, the deprivation and catastrophic humanitarian conditions will continue," he urged.

The official said it was imperative to reach a deal for a ceasefire.

"Any further escalation in the fighting will only bring more devastation to civilians and make the peace and stability that Israelis and Palestinians desperately need and deserve even more elusive," he stressed.

Despite the limited access through the crossings, the World Food Programme (WFP) said today that 10 truckloads of food, including high-energy biscuits, rice, pasta and lentils, had reached its warehouse via the coastal enclave's floating dock.

Quoted by UN News today, the US Central Command, which built the dock, said that the trucks began moving at around 9am local time on Friday (7am GMT), and that no US troops went ashore.

The Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 35,000 people and injured nearly 80,000 in seven months, according to figures from the enclave's health ministry, which has been run by Hamas since 2007.

The current conflict was triggered by an unprecedented wave of rocket attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead and 200 in captivity, according to Israeli authorities.

Leia Também: Turistas de Israel envolvidos em agressões com manifestantes em Coimbra (Portuguese version)

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