Israeli bombs not all that casts shadow over Gaza as necessities for survival run out

ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine has this report as the crisis in Gaza, where over 2,000 children have been killed

The bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes might not be the most insidious threat to life in Gaza, as officials from aid agencies warn that Gazans are running out of the necessities for survival.

The most important UN agency in the region, UNRWA, provides food and shelter for more than 600,000 displaced people - but without additional fuel supplies, it will not be operating by Thursday, it has said.

The diesel is needed to pump and desalinate water, heat ovens that bake bread and keep hard-pressed hospitals functioning.

The airstrikes also remain a direct threat, as 13-year-old Gazan, Nadin Abdullatif showed in videos sent to ITV News.

"My bed... My sister's bed, this is no house anymore. It is cut in half," Nadin says among the rubble of her home hit by missile strikes.

"My stuffed turtle and the glass, look it's broken - all of it, broken."

Nadin was initially interviewed by ITV News in Gaza following air strikes there in 2021, when she was 10.

"It's still terrifying to think that history repeats itself, we need to change history," she said on Wednesday.

The Israelis have been urging people in northern Gaza to head south for their own safety.

While several hundred thousand have done, Israel have also accused Hamas of preventing some from relocating and using them as "human shields".

The IDF have given ITV News what they said is a phone conversation between an Israeli intelligence officer and a civilian in northern Gaza.

"All the roads are blocked," the civilian says on the recording, before the IDF officer says: "Who is blocking the roads? Hamas?"

"Yes," the civilian replies. "They are simply sending everyone back home. They are shooting at people."

The death toll and the number of people injured indicate there are still plenty of civilians in northern Gaza.

Off the 6,500 killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-led Ministry of Health since the conflict erupted, more than 2,000 are children.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have bombarded the Gaza Strip with rockets since the surprise terror attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas, where over 1,400 Israelis were killed on October 7.

Now, the UN has warned its main agency working in Gaza will be forced to halt its aid operations for its civilians due to fuel shortages. A third of hospitals across the 41-kilometre area have stopped functioning.

Around 62 vehicles carrying humanitarian assistance - including food, water and medical supplies - have been transported into the besieged territory since Saturday.

But Israel's military said it will not allow any fuel to enter Gaza because Hamas needs it for its operational infrastructure.

Late on Wednesday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his military is "preparing for a ground operation" on Gaza, but did not specify "when, how, how much".

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