In recent days, Gaza has continued to feel the effects of the Israeli blockade and has already run out of water, electricity and medicine. Now a UN official has said that “even the body bags are running out”, reports Sky News.

“Gas is being choked and it seems that the world has lost its humanity at this moment,” said Philip Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

“Not a drop of water, not a grain of wheat, not a liter of fuel has been allowed to enter Gaza in the last eight days.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a potential “chasm in the Middle East” as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens ahead of a possible Israeli ground offensive and the escalation of the conflict risks spilling over into the region, CNN reports.

Residents of Gaza are forced to drink “life-threatening” unsanitary water

Israel’s Energy and Water Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that water had been restored at a “specific point” in Gaza, while a spokesman said the location was outside the city of Khan Younis.

But this is not the case, according to Hamas Interior Minister Eyad Al-Bozom. “Residents are drinking unhealthy water, which is a serious health crisis that threatens the lives of citizens,” he said.

The Israeli military said on Monday it would “refrain” from striking the evacuation corridors connecting northern and southern Gaza in the morning as it prepares a ground offensive against Hamas, AFP reported.

Israeli forces will “refrain from striking demarcation lines between 08:00 (05:00 GMT) and 12:00 (09:00 GMT),” army spokesman Avichai Adri said on X (formerly Twitter).

“For your own safety, use this short window of time to move from the north of Gaza to the south,” he added.

In another statement, the army said it had identified two evacuation routes.

Israel urged residents of the northern Gaza Strip – about 1.1 million people out of a total population of 2.4 million – to flee south, saying it was striking northern Gaza City to destroy the center of operations of the Islamist movement Hamas.

But Israeli strikes continue in the Gaza Strip in the south of the Palestinian territory, while the UN estimates that more than a million people have been displaced during the week of war between Israel and Hamas.

Rocket fire on Israel from the Gaza side also continued.