“The level of damage is very extensive. It’s heart-wrenching,” said Thomas White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza.

“Buildings have just been cleaved open. A mess of masonry, twisted metal and sheet iron blown everywhere. As we drove through Gaza City it was like a ghost town; all the streets were deserted. The impact of heavy airstrikes and shelling was so visible. Roads are riddled with craters, complicating aid deliveries,” he said.

More than 70 per cent of people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced since Oct 7. More than 1 million people are now in UNRWA shelters, including nearly 100,000 people in 50 shelters in the north.

“There are some remarkable stories of our courageous colleagues staying and serving their communities in northern Gaza. A head of UNRWA sanitation services, despite the unspeakable grief of his wife and daughter being killed, is out working every day to provide essential services for the community,” White added.