UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the fighting in Gaza is unlike anything he has experienced as head of the world body, Al Jazeera reports.

“We have witnessed […] a unique level of destruction and […] unique level of casualties in the Palestinian population during these months of war that has no precedent in any other situation that I’ve lived as secretary general of the United Nations,” Guterres told reporters on the sidelines of a forum at the UN’s headquarters in Geneva.

The UN chief also said it was “extremely difficult to support the population” of Gaza when it “is under fire” and when Israeli forces are blockading Gaza’s borders, preventing the flow of humanitarian aid supplies such as food, fuel, medicine and clean water.

“It’s extremely difficult to support the population when there are so many restrictions to the entry of the necessary supplies for humanitarian aid,” he said.