Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 20 people as Israeli forces intensified a siege of northern parts of the Palestinian enclave, surrounding hospitals and refugee shelters, and ordering residents to head south, medics and residents said, reports Reuters.

The Gaza Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation said they would be unable to start a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza as planned because of the intense bombardments, mass displacements and lack of access.

Hospitals in the north have either stopped providing medical services or are hardly operating because of the offensive. Hospitals where medics have refused Israeli evacuation orders say they are running out of blood for transfusions, as well as coffins and shrouds for the dead.

“We call on the world, which has failed to provide protection and shelter for our people and has been unable to deliver food and medicine, to make an effort to send shrouds for our fallen,” the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.