UNITED NATIONS/JERUSALEM/GAZA/AMMAN/ LJUBLJANA - The situation in Gaza is "beyond catastrophic" with casualties mounting along aid convoy routes and in shelters as Israel continues to bar many medics, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday in a press release.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that more people are being killed and injured along convoy routes or where they are staying.

"Hospitals are overstretched," and patients lying on the floor or in the streets are suffering while "beds, medical supplies and equipment are severely lacking," OCHA said, adding that emergency medical teams were denied entry into Gaza again on Tuesday.

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According to the World Health Organization, more than 100 health professionals, including surgeons and other specialized medical staff, have been barred from entering Gaza since March.

OCHA said that a limited number of trucks carrying commercial goods were reportedly allowed entry into Gaza on Tuesday.

The office said that initial reports from its ground partners indicate that the items included rice, sugar and vegetables, but they are still following up to obtain more clarity on it.

Sugar remains one of the most expensive items in the market in Gaza, since "a 2-ounce (57 grams) bag costs some $170," said OCHA. "Eggs, poultry and meat have disappeared from the market."

OCHA said that the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported five new malnutrition-related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to about 200 deaths, half of whom were children.

The office said the limited availability of fuel continues to impact life-saving operations.

"In the past two days, the United Nations collected some 300,000 liters from the Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) crossing," but it is far less than what is needed to sustain operations, OCHA said.

The office said benzene, which powers emergency vehicles, runs generators and water and sanitation systems, reached very low levels, with hardly any entering Gaza during the past 10 days.

UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) warned that unless urgent action is taken, most international NGOs partners could be de-registered in the coming months due to a recent Israeli policy, said OCHA.

They called on Israeli authorities to rescind the requirement, which obliges them to share sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees in Gaza or face termination of their humanitarian operations, said OCHA.

That would force them to withdraw all international staff and prevent them from providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, according to the office.

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Also on Wednesday, Five countries dropped 107 aid packages over Gaza, the Israeli military said.

The packages, containing food, were airdropped by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium and France, according to a military statement.

The airdrops began in late July after photos of starving children in Gaza sparked global outrage over Israel's continued blockade.

But United Nations officials and experts say the airdrops will have little impact unless Israel opens the crossings to allow more aid in and permits medical treatment for the malnourished. Israel has struck and damaged or destroyed all hospitals in Gaza.

Gaza's health authorities said Wednesday that five more people died from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 193, including 96 children.

Israel's blockade and military offensive have caused famine to spread in Gaza nearly 22 months after the war began.

And according to Palestinian sources, At least 27 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, while 20 others died in a food truck overturn in the Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that the attacks targeted a tent housing displaced persons and gatherings of people waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip.

Basal said that seven people were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting for aid near two US-backed distribution centers in Rafah and at the Netzarim area in the center.

Issa Mukhaimer, 37, was among the mourners with his family at the Nasser Complex in Khan Younis, where they had gathered to receive the body of a relative killed by Israeli army fire in Rafah while trying to obtain food.

"Everyone who goes to the aid centers returns carrying a bag of flour or being carried on shoulders," Mukhaimer told Xinhua tearfully.

Nine people, including children, were killed when Israeli aircraft bombed two homes in the Shuja'iyya and Zeitoun neighborhoods east of Gaza City, according to Basal. Three people were killed and five others wounded in an airstrike targeting a convoy of aid workers north of Gaza City.

Basal added that among those killed were two girls. One was a six-month-old baby who was shot by an Israeli drone while she was in her family's tent on al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City. The other girl was shot in the head inside her tent in the northwest of Khan Younis.

He said that a family of five, including a husband, wife, and three children, was killed when Israeli aircraft targeted their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. He noted that a neighbor of the house was also killed by shrapnel from the bombing.

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, said that the pressure on the Gaza Strip's hospitals is extremely high, warning of the loss of wounded patients due to the hospitals' inability to accommodate them.

Abu Salmiya added in a press statement that hospital occupancy exceeds 300 percent, noting that anesthetics will run out in the Gaza Strip within 48 hours, and the health authorities do not have sufficient stocks of blood units.

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Meanwhile, local Palestinian sources told Xinhua that Israeli naval forces arrested six fishermen in the sea off the central Gaza Strip after surrounding their boat and transferring them to an unknown location.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that directed by intelligence, IDF troops continue operations against "terrorist organizations" in the Gaza Strip.

"IDF troops operating in northern Gaza continue to dismantle terrorist infrastructure above and below ground. During operational activity yesterday (Tuesday), IDF troops rapidly dismantled the launcher that launched mortars towards IDF troops in northern Gaza," it said.

"In the southern Gaza Strip, IDF troops dismantled terrorist infrastructure, located several significant tunnel shafts, and eliminated several terrorists," it said.

Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 9,654 Palestinians have been killed and 39,401 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 61,158, with a total of 151,442 people injured, according to health authorities in Gaza on Wednesday.

Furthermore, the Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Wednesday ordered residents of several areas in the Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, to evacuate their homes.

Later on Wednesday, Adraee issued a new warning regarding Khan Younis, saying, "To those in the tents in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of Khan Younis, in Block 110 and the eastern part of Block 89, the IDF is continuing its ground maneuver and using heavy force in your area to expand the scope of the fighting."

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In a separate statement, Adraee confirmed that "the area will not be included in the areas witnessing a tactical, temporary, and local ceasefire for humanitarian purposes," calling on residents to evacuate the area westward immediately for their safety. He emphasized that the evacuation order does not include the Nasser Medical Complex.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Wednesday that it has facilitated the transfer of citizens from several countries in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing, east of Rafah, in the southern coastal enclave, to continue their travel to their countries.

The ICRC said in a press statement that "at the request of the consular services of several countries, the ICRC facilitated the transfer of their nationals and their family members to the Kerem Shalom crossing point, where they were received by consular staff to continue their travel to their countries."

It added that the group included third-country nationals and members of the most vulnerable families who need care and support from their families abroad. The statement did not specify the identities of the countries, noting that this is the fifth time the ICRC has facilitated the transfer of civilians of this kind since March.

Jordan on Wednesday condemned repeated attacks by Israeli settlers on its humanitarian aid convoys bound for the Gaza Strip, urging Israel to halt such violations, following a new attack on its convoy.

Government spokesperson Mohammad Momani said in a statement that the latest incident occurred when Israeli settlers on Wednesday attacked a convoy of 30 aid trucks crossing into Gaza, damaging four vehicles by blocking the road and throwing stones.

The assault marked the second such attack in a week, following a similar incident on Sunday that forced two trucks to return to Jordan.

Momani stressed that the attacks endanger drivers and hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance, adding that they violated international conventions and signed agreements.

Momani criticized what he described as lenient handling of such incidents, urging the Israeli authorities to take immediate action.

Meanwhile, Slovenia on Wednesday introduced a ban on imports of goods produced in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the government said after its session on Wednesday.

Slovenia became the first European Union country to do so. The ministries of foreign affairs and economy will also study the possibility of a ban on all exports from Slovenia to those territories, according to the government.

"The government also decided to send Palestinian civilian population ... help in the form of food and blankets in the total value of 879,490 euros ($1 million)," the government said in a statement, adding that "security and humanitarian conditions in the area of Gaza have been extremely bad for some time and are still worsening".

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Describing the ban as "a necessary response," Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said on X that it sends "a clear message to Israel and the wider international community that violations of international law are not without consequences in international relations."

Slovenia, an incumbent non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, has so far spent over 2 million euros on help in the form of food and other goods sent to Gaza.

Slovenia, which officially recognized the State of Palestine in June 2024, has been pushing for European sanctions against Israel. Last week, it prohibited exports, imports and transport of weapons to and from Israel.

Earlier in July, it declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bazalel Smotrich personae non gratae, citing grave violations of Palestinian human rights.