“There’s almost no food available and everybody we talked to begs for food,” Sean Casey, an emergency coordinator for the WHO said during a news briefing Wednesday.

Casey, who has carried out several WHO missions to northern Gaza, stated each time his team delivered medical supplies to the region, they were asked to bring food the next time.

“That’s not possible for a number of reasons including coordination and security concern,” Casey added.

WHO has “no communication with entire areas”, but Casey said when he meets a patient who has had a double amputation and asks for food or water, it is clear “they’re not getting their basic needs met”.

The WHO was unable to reach northern Gaza since December 26 and was forced to cancel six planned missions, according to briefing notes.

Many people in central Gaza are also going hungry because there is not enough food coming in, Casey continued.

Even in southern Gaza, closest to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt where deliveries are received, not many people are eating a full meal a day, he said, adding, “It’s a horrific situation across the board.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said Wednesday although many around the world rang in the new year earlier this month, “2024 is not a happy new year”.

This Sunday will mark 100 days since the Israel-Hamas conflict, Tedros noted, adding that “the situation is indescribable”.

In Gaza, “People are standing in line for hours for a small amount of water, which may not be clean, or bread, which alone is not sufficiently nutritious. Only 15 hospitals are functioning, even partially”, Tedros said.

“Delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza continues to face nearly insurmountable challenges. Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortages and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need,” he continued, adding, “We have the supplies, the teams and the plans in place. What we don’t have is access.”

Disruptions to the health care and water sanitation systems, the lack of food and water as well as having people displaced in the winter is “a cocktail for diseases”, said Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.

WHO Health Officer Dr. Teresa Zakaria, the incident manager for the escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestine territories, stated the agency’s surveillance systems are capturing the manifestation of diseases, but they aren’t able to verify the bacteria, parasite or virus causing the illnesses.

“We have seen increased reports of acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, jaundice. But again, these are just manifestations of multiple diseases and we can’t get to the bottom of it because we’re not in a position to even test, collect samples and test,” she added.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” she said, adding, “There are a lot of diseases that may actually just spread undetected and that is extremely concerning because by the time we actually find out about it, it will be at a very late stage for which then containing it will be extremely difficult.”

The agency canceled six planned missions to northern Gaza since December 26 “because our requests were rejected and assurances of safe passage were not provided”, the director-general continued.

“The health system in the Gaza Strip is constantly collapsing in light of the ongoing bombing and the absence of medical aid,” Ashraf al-Qudra said.

He added that the Israeli forces have sentenced 800,000 people to death in northern Gaza as a result of the catastrophic healthcare system in hospitals.

The Palestinian death toll from a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip has surged to 23,357 since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.

A ministry statement noted that 59,410 other people have also been injured in the onslaught.

“At least 147 people were killed and 243 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours,” the ministry added.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers can’t reach them,” the statement read.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas in October, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

Robert Mardini, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told Al Jazeera that all hospitals in Gaza are suffering from a total collapse of the healthcare system, calling it “unacceptable and dangerous”.

“The medical supplies in the Gaza Strip are absolutely insufficient to provide relief to the wounded and sick,” he said, adding, “Hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer able to provide any surgical services.”

Officials say the current health situation in Gaza is “beyond catastrophic,” with most hospitals completely out of service in Gaza City and the north. Out of 36 hospitals, 30 of them now are completely out of service.

Mansour said residents in Gaza are being killed, tortured and humiliated, and children are being amputated and orphaned as he called for an end to Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave at a UN General Assembly meeting on a US veto for a Gaza cease-fire

“During these 90 days, 11 Palestinians were killed every hour, including seven women and children. Every single hour for 90 days. Hundreds are killed every day to this day,” he added.

“Ninety days of hell on earth. Ninety days of massacres. How many more Palestinians killed till you say enough is enough? How many more tragedies? How much more destruction?” the envoy continued.

Mansour said 1% of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, and “that is the equivalent of 3 million Americans.”

“Three percent of Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded. Take a moment and imagine what that represents compared to your own population. That is the equivalent of 10 million Americans,” he added.

“Eighty-seven percent of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced. Take a moment and imagine what that represents compared to your own population. That is the equivalent of 284 million Americans.”

Mansour said supporting an immediate cease-fire is the only moral, legitimate and responsible position.

He cautioned that security will never come through the death, destruction and dehumanization of the Palestinian people.

“Our people have a right to life. To freedom. To justice. Palestine is here to stay. The Palestinian people are here to stay. The Palestinian people will not disappear, but their resilience is no reason to prolong their suffering,” added the envoy.

“Don’t call for peace and spread fire. If you want peace, start with a cease-fire. Cease fire. Cease fire. Now,” he stated.

The UN refugee agency also announced the Gaza Strip has become an “uninhabitable place” as Israel continued its deadly military offensive in the Palestinian territory since Oct. 7.

“Gaza is the worst place on earth, and the enclave is being transformed into an uninhabitable place,” Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), told the UN News website.

“There are 1.9 million displaced people across the enclave, of whom around 1.4 million seek shelter in 155 UN-run schools and shelters,” he added.

The UNRWA spokesman said that most of Gaza’s population are being forced to flee to Rafah city in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt.

“There are around 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah and this figure is likely to rise to 1.5 million,” Abu Hasna said, adding, “UNRWA cannot cope with the unfolding collapse.”

“What is happening not only exceeds the capabilities of UNRWA but also the capabilities of countries, as an entire population is being displaced to the city of Rafah.”

UN rapporteurs on Wednesday said that the starvation and lack of housing due to damages caused by Israel in Gaza aggravate charges of “genocide.”

Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, wrote on X that 45% of people in Gaza experience severe hunger.

“In some areas 9 out of 10 families go 24 hours without food,” Albanese continued, adding: “This aggravates charges of genocide, as physical destruction can be achieved through starvation (ICTR).”

Regarding the housing situation, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the special rapporteur on the right to housing, wrote on X that about 56% of houses in Gaza are destroyed or damaged.

More than 23,300 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 60,000 injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.