Speaking to BBC, James Elder, who is currently in Gaza, said the areas Israel has asked Palestinians to evacuate to are “patches of barren land” that have “no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold, no sanitation”.

Elder also added that Israeli-made maps with QR codes purportedly showing these “safe areas” won’t be accessible to many people due to internet and power outages.

“If you are going to forcibly evacuate people you cannot send hundreds of thousands of people to places where there is no water and no toilets. I genuinely mean no toilets. Every corner I had turned to, there were another 5,000 people who would appear overnight. They don’t have a single toilet, they don’t have a drop of water,” Elder told BBC.

“The only safety in Gaza now is for hell to stop raining down from the sky,” he continued.

At least 15,900 people have died in Gaza since October 7, Palestinian health officials have confirmed, adding that more than 6,000 of these are children and that hundreds of medical personnel have also died as a result of Israeli artillery, airstrikes or ground offensives.

The charity group said the Strip’s population have suffered from “unequal access to natural resources” for years under the Israeli air, land and naval blockade.

Those issues have been exacerbated amid the ongoing Israeli offensive, particularly the lack of access to clean drinking water that is now affecting the entire population, including over one million children.

“The current crisis in Gaza is both a violent conflict, and a slow-burning eradication of children’s rights, fuelled by international neglect, a failure of leadership, and the climate crisis,” Mohamad Al Asmar, advocacy and resource mobilisation director for Save the Children in the Middle East, stated.

“The over a million children with their lives on the line in Gaza were already on the frontline of the climate crisis. If you are a child in Gaza, you will have no memory of a life without water shortages, created by political action – the blockade – and inaction on climate change,” Asmar, who is currently in Dubai attending the Cop28 summit, added.

“The health and environmental impacts of climate change cannot be contained within specific territories or across borders, and are likely to impact across the region, including in Israel,” Asmar continued.

“Again and again, more than one million Palestinian children have been deprived of their basic rights. We need an immediate ceasefire and an end to the blockade as the only way to keep children safe and preserve their future.”

The current amount of aid is insufficient and the conditions required to deliver aid to Gaza do not exist, according to Hastings, the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond,” Hastings said.

The use of only the Rafah crossing to bring trucks of aid does not work, the UN said, despite the efforts of its agencies, the Egyptian and Palestine Red Crescent Society, and other partners.

The international body added Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” with a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition for people, and shelters with no capacity.

The situation amounts to a “textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster,” Hastings said. “Humanitarian operations cannot be kept on a drip feed of fuel”, she continued, adding that fuel is required for hospitals, clean drinking water, sanitation, social services and UN operations, among others.

The UN announced fuel must be allowed to enter Gaza in a “manner which ensures Israel’s security”.

Hastings said the UN and NGOs alone can’t support the population of Gaza, stressing that commercial and public sectors must be allowed to bring supplies into Gaza.

The UN added it stands ready to work with all parties to “expand the number of UN-managed safe shelters and to deliver assistance where it is needed.”

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), during a visit to the Gaza Strip, also said the level of human suffering there is intolerable.

“The purpose of my visit is to advance efforts that alleviate the desperate humanitarian situation,” Mirjana Spoljaric said Monday in a statement, adding that civilians currently have “no safe place to go in Gaza.”

“We have urgently appealed for civilian life to be protected and respected on all sides, in line with international humanitarian law, and I reiterate that appeal today.”

Spoljaric also stressed the ICRC must be allowed to safely visit hostages being held in Gaza. She said it would enable the organization to provide updates to family members on the well-being of their loved ones.

The ICRC president highlighted the positive impact of the week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, describing it as “a small degree of humanitarian respite” and a “positive glimpse of humanity”.