The UN has halted food deliveries in northern Gaza because of looting attacks as conditions deteriorate in the war stricken Palestinian territory
The UN has halted food deliveries in northern Gaza because of looting attacks as conditions deteriorate in the war stricken Palestinian territory AFP

UN aid agencies said Tuesday that food deliveries to war-torn northern Gaza had been suspended after looting attacks and that dozens of patients in a besieged hospital remain trapped in "indescribable" conditions.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO) stepped up warnings as Israel prepares a major offensive in the southern city of Rafah.

The WFP said it resumed deliveries to northern Gaza on Sunday after a three-week halt but its first convoy "faced complete chaos and violence".

It said shots were fired. "Several trucks were looted... and a truck driver was beaten," the Rome-based agency added.

"On Monday, the second convoy's journey north faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order."

WFP said it was forced to pause deliveries "until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions".

Twenty weeks into Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies have warned that food and safe water are very scarce. The WFP said its teams had reported "unprecedented levels of desperation".

The UN estimates fighting has pushed 2.2 million people to the brink of famine and displaced three-quarters of Gaza's population.

The war started when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 29,195 people, according to the latest count by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

The WHO said it had carried out two missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from the besieged Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis on Sunday and Monday.

At least 130 patients and 15 doctors and nurses remain, after days of fighting around southern Gaza's chief hospital.

WHO staff said the scenes were "indescribable" with conditions ripe for disease.

"Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease," the WHO said.

Israeli troops entered the Nasser hospital on Thursday and the WHO said it was denied access to the hospital on Friday and Saturday.

The intensive care unit was no longer functioning, WHO said, and patients were moved to other hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has concentrated its military operations in Khan Yunis for weeks.