Speaking in a virtual news conference, Hollingworth said: “Calls to action (for Gaza) have predominantly been going to deaf ears. But fundamentally what we need of course, is an immediate ceasefire.”

Saying that the “exodus we have seen in past 20 days or so out of Rafah has been a horrific experience for many people,” Hollingworth noted that there is a severe shortage of water, medical supplies, fuel, and food in places people have fled to.

Hollingworth said that the public health situation in these areas are “beyond crisis level,” adding: “The everyday life is terrific and apocalyptic. People sleep to the sounds of bombing, they sleep to the sounds of drones, they sleep to the sounds of war.”

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has also warned that the overcrowding and poor sanitation in Gaza’s refugee camps are advancing the spread of infectious diseases.

In a statement released on X, the UNRWA emphasized the urgent need for improved healthcare services. “Our teams continue to provide essential medical care to vulnerable individuals, including children and the elderly,” the agency said.

However, the situation remains critical due to the scarcity of vaccines and medicines, it said, adding the overcrowding and lack of proper sanitation in Gaza’s shelters have contributed significantly to the health crisis.

“Overcrowded shelters and inadequate hygiene practices are fueling the transmission of infectious diseases,” the UNRWA warned.

It called for “safe and unrestricted access” to address the pressing health needs of the refugee population.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 82,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

The UN humanitarian office and World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned aid is “not getting to people” in Gaza, and as a result “children are starving.”

“They are certainly not getting the amount that they desperately need to prevent a famine,” Jens Laerke, the spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, stated at a UN briefing in Geneva.

Laerke said: “More military action is not normally helpful for humanitarian action.”

He added that it is “difficult to predict” how it would affect the humanitarian operations as a whole, considering the “very dynamic” situation on the ground with armed forces moving around to different areas.

“We want military action to cease altogether. We want to have a humanitarian pause,” he urged.

“That is the only way we can actually do our jobs properly.”

The UN has recently reported that aid deliveries to Gaza have decreased by 67% since the closure of the Rafah crossing on May 7.

“Our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that widespread Israeli bombardments continue to be reported. Ground incursions and heavy fighting are also affecting northern, central and southern Gaza,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at a news conference.

Saying that the “the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has dropped by 67% since the seventh of May”, Dujarric attributed this primarily to the closure of the Rafah border crossing.

Dujarric also stated that health and service facilities are shutting down one by one and that displacement due to the attacks is also affecting the distribution of resources.

Noting that only one hospital in Rafah is partially operational, Dujarric added the UN and its partners are trying to do their best under all conditions.

The OCHA has also announced only 14 out of 36 hospitals in the war-torn Gaza Strip are still partially functional, warning about growing environmental risks in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The statement came on the heels of US President Joe Biden announcing a fresh cease-fire proposal that he said Israel greenlighted, urging Palestinian group Hamas to accept it.

Netanyahu’s office said, “the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.”

However it added that Netanyahu had authorized Israel’s negotiating team to “present an outline for achieving this goal,” in reference to the hostages’ release.

“The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles,” the statement concluded.

The proposal, announced by Biden, extends over three phases, the first spanning six weeks and including a full cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza, and the exchange of prisoners.

Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 which claimed 1,200 lives and around 250 were taken as hostages. As many as 105 captives were released as part of a brief truce in November in exchange of 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Around 125 people remain held captive, with many of them believed to be dead due to Israeli airstrikes.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas views positively what was included in US President Joe Biden’s speech today,” the group said in a statement on Saturday.

On Friday, Biden called on Israel and Hamas to accept a three-phase deal which includes the release of hostages in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, a permanent ceasefire, and an exchange of prisoners.

The proposal Biden outlined in great detail appeared nearly identical to the one Hamas agreed to in early May. The main exception appeared to be no reference to the complete lifting of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.

US media reports suggested that the US opposed the former agreement Hamas accepted just before the Rafah invasion, but Middle East Eye reported that CIA director Bill Burns, who has led the US negotiating team, reviewed the deal and that the US had backed the agreement.

Biden on Friday put the onus of a deal being reached on Hamas, saying the group “needs to take the deal”.

“The movement affirms its position of readiness to deal positively and constructively with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction, and the return of the displaced to all their places of residence, and the completion of a serious prisoner exchange deal,” Hamas said.

The group added that it believed Biden’s call for a permanent ceasefire was “the result of the legendary steadfastness of our struggling people and their valiant resistance”.

According to Biden, the first six-week phase of the proposal would include a full ceasefire across Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all population centres.

During the first phase, Hamas would exchange hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. US citizens would also be released as well as the remains of dead hostages.

Palestinians would also be able to return to “all areas of Gaza” Biden promised, and 600 aid trucks would enter the enclave each day.

If Israel and Hamas do move forward with an agreement, mediators will need to work out the logistics of a prisoner swap.

Biden stated to move from phase one to phase two, several details needed to be worked out but promised that the ceasefire would continue to hold as negotiations progress.