“One month on, civilians in Gaza and Israel are being forced to endure tremendous suffering and loss. This needs to stop,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.
“Massive bombardments are gutting civilian infrastructure across Gaza, sowing seeds of hardship for generations to come,” the ICRC statement said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian convoy carrying lifesaving medical supplies came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday.
The convoy of five trucks and two Red Cross vehicles was carrying supplies to health facilities, including to Al-Quds hospital, when it was hit, an ICRC statement said, adding that two trucks were damaged and a driver lightly wounded.
The ICRC did not specify who had fired at its convoy or from what direction the fire came.
"These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work," said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.
"We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital aid can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law."
After the gunfire the convoy altered its route and reached Al-Shifa hospital where it delivered the medical supplies, the ICRC said.
Later the ICRC convoy accompanied six ambulances with critically wounded patients to the Rafah crossing to Egypt, it added.
The organisation’s president Mirjana Spoljaric said she had been particularly shocked to see the suffering that children have had to endure.
“Children have been ripped from their families and held hostage. In Gaza, ICRC surgeons treat toddlers whose skin is charred from widespread burns,” she said in the statement.
“The images of suffering, dead and wounded children will haunt us all. This is a moral failing,” she added. Spoljaric also called for the immediate release of prisoners held by Hamas.
“They play no part in this conflict and we reiterate our offer as neutral actor to facilitate any future release operation,” she said.
“Until then we continue all our efforts to urge Hamas and all those with influence to allow ICRC personnel to visit the hostages,” she added.
The organisation insisted that all parties to the unrest “must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and spare all civilians from the conduct of military operations.”
It pointed out that the military siege of Gaza had deprived people there of food, water and medicine, and warned that the “sparse aid” trickling in was not able to provide people with the essentials to survive.
“From the earliest days of the unprecedented hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF has been forthright on the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the aid to flow and for children abducted to be released. Like many others, we have pleaded for the killing of children to stop.
“Our gravest fears about the reported numbers of children killed becoming dozens, then hundreds, and ultimately thousands were realized in just a fortnight. The numbers are appalling; reportedly more than 3,450 children killed; staggeringly this rises significantly every day.
“Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.
“And yet the threats to children go beyond bombs and mortars. I want to speak briefly on water and trauma.
“The more than one million children of Gaza also have a water crisis. Gaza’s water production capacity is a mere 5 per cent of its usual daily output. Child deaths – particularly infants - to dehydration are a growing threat.
“This is what one of my UNICEF colleagues, Nesma, who lives and works in Gaza said. She has two children, 4yr old Talia, and 7yr old Zain: It breaks my heart to see children around me strive for a cup of clean water and cannot find it. Zain keeps asking for regular water.
“She means safe drinking water, not salty water which is the only option right now and is making 7yr old Zain and many other children sick.
“And then there is the trauma. When the fighting stops, the cost to children and their communities will be borne out for generations to come. Before this latest escalation, more than 800,000 children in Gaza – three quarters of its entire child population – were identified as needing mental health and psychosocial support. That’s before this latest nightmare.
“The same UNICEF colleague, Nesma, who spoke of her 7yr old desperately asking for clean water, explained the trauma her 4yr old is going through. Four year old Talia is showing severe symptoms of stress and fear, and is now self-harming, such as ripping her hair off and scratching her thighs until they bleed. And yet as her mother explains: I don’t have the luxury to think about my children’s mental health. I keep telling myself, ‘Nesma, keep them alive.’ And when all of this ends, I will provide them with mental support and medical care.
“And so we say again, on behalf of Talia and Zain, and the other 1.1m children in Gaza living through a nightmare: We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. And all access crossings into Gaza must be opened for the safe, sustained and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid, including water, food, medical supplies, and fuel.
“And if there is no ceasefire, no water, no medicine, and no release of abducted children? Then we hurtle towards even greater horrors afflicting innocent children.”