Israel's campaign to crush Hamas ground into its second month Wednesday as its forces battled the Palestinians in Gaza City, despite mounting calls for a ceasefire.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, Israel's relentless bombardment has killed more than 10,300 people, many of them children.
Calls for a halt in the fighting have gone unheard, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting there would be no pause until the more than 240 hostages seized by Hamas are freed.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said the past month was one marked by "carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair".
- 'Death and suffering'
In densely packed Gaza -- where more than 1.5 million people have fled their homes in a desperate search for safety -- the suffering is immense.
Entire city blocks have been levelled and bodies in white shrouds are piling up outside hospitals, where surgeons operate on bloodied floors by the light of phones. The World Health Organization said an average of 160 children are killed every day in Gaza by the war.
"The level of death and suffering is hard to fathom," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. Hamas's media office said on Telegram that several cemeteries in Gaza had "no more space for burials", while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)said most of the territory's sewage pumping stations were shut.
OCHA says Israel has ordered all 13 hospitals still operational in northern Gaza to evacuate patients. Netanyahu has said no fuel will be delivered to besieged Gaza, but may allow possible "tactical pauses" to free hostages and deliver aid
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
