Sam Rose, planning director at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said no supplies have entered the Gaza Strip since Sunday and “heavy bombardments” are hitting areas in the centre of Rafah city.

“No aid has come into Gaza now since Sunday. No aid, no fuel, no supplies, nothing. And we really are now down to our last reserves. We have a few more days of flour that we can provide. But everything else will start to shut down very soon without fuel, without water. So the situation is really desperate,” Rose told Al Jazeera from Rafah.

“People are petrified. People have been fearing this for a long, long time and it is now upon us. There is constant bombardment. There is smoke on the horizon. There are people on the move. We estimate that, as of last night, about 110,000 people from Rafah had been displaced and had moved on,” he said.

“People are doing whatever they can to flee for safety and yet where are they going to? There are no safe places,” he added.

“These are populations that are already on the brink of famine who are now being subjected to a medieval siege coupled with scorched earth and heavy bombardment. Already desperate conditions will get worse and we will see multitudes of casualties. Not just from the bombing. But the hunger, the disease and the starvation.”