Amid growing international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities, conditions in Gaza are increasingly desperate under Israel’s assault and tightened blockade. Food, fuel, drinking water and medicine have run short.

Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, told Reuters the main power generator at the Indonesian Hospital was no longer functioning due to lack of fuel.

The hospital was switching to a backup generator but would no longer be able to power mortuary refrigerators and oxygen generators.

“If we don’t get fuel in the next few days, we will inevitably reach a disaster,” he said.

Dr Fathi Abu al-Hassan, a US passport holder waiting to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, described hellish conditions in Gaza without water, food or shelter. “We open our eyes on dead people and we close our eyes on dead people,” he said.