The heads of 15 United Nations aid organizations and private groups called for an immediate end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip in a joint statement on Friday, warning that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of death.
They said the situation in the north of the coastal strip, where Israel's army launched a new ground offensive on Gaza at the beginning of October, is particularly dramatic.
"The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence," said the statement, published by the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
The signatories included the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme and the aid organization Oxfam.
They said a permanent ceasefire is long overdue. "The entire region is on the brink of the abyss."
The Israeli onslaught has resulted in over 43,200 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 101,800 injuries, according to local health authorities.
