ISTANBUL

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “beyond imagination” as Israel continued to block supplies into the enclave, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday.

“As the complete blocking of supplies essential for survival enters its ninth week, there must be a concerted international effort to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new unseen level,” it added in a statement.

The refugee agency renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

The humanitarian crisis deepened in Gaza after Israel unilaterally abandoned a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas last month.

On Friday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that with every additional day, Israel’s siege on Gaza “will silently kill more children and women in addition to those killed by bombardments.”

On Thursday, the director of Gaza’s government media office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Anadolu that the enclave had entered “an advanced stage of famine” due to the continued closure of border crossings since March 2 and Israel’s renewed military onslaught.

Nearly 52,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.