The resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip has been intense, the director general of the Red Cross said as Israel air strikes and artillery bombarded the enclave a day after a week-long pause in hostilities there with Hamas collapsed.

“We don’t have precise reports but what I can say is the resumption of fighting was intense again,” ICRC Director General Robert Mardini told Reuters at the COP28 UN summit in Dubai.

“It’s a new layer of disruption coming on top of massive, unparalleled destruction of critical infrastructure, of civilian houses and neighbourhoods,” he said, warning that the violence would make it difficult to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Mardini said that people in Gaza were “living in constant fear of violent death” and struggling to survive amid shortages of food and water caused by the fighting, while hospitals were working with limited resources.

“Everything in Gaza is at the breaking point,” he said.