United Nations

The "devastation and deprivation" caused by Israel's military operations in northern Gaza is "making the conditions of life untenable" for Palestinians there, the spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in north Gaza is unbearable," Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Sunday.

Israel has been bombarding northern Gaza for weeks, after saying it received intelligence that Hamas is rebuilding in the area, CNN reported.

"The Secretary-General is shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury, and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded going without life-saving healthcare, and families lacking food and shelter, amid reports of families being separated and many people detained," the UN spokesperson added.

Israeli authorities are continuing to deny attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to those in need, Dujarric said, "with few exceptions, putting countless lives in peril."

A report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released last Tuesday claimed that, in the first three weeks of October, only four out of 70 planned aid movements into Gaza were facilitated by Israeli authorities, CNN reported.

A UN-led campaign to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio has also been postponed in the north of the Strip, Dujarric said, "putting the lives of thousands of children at risk."

"This conflict continues to be waged with little regard for the requirements of international humanitarian law," the spokesperson added.