The situation in war-ravaged Gaza is so desperate that teenagers are now saying they hope to be swiftly killed to escape the "nightmare", a spokesman for the UN children's agency said Tuesday.
"The unspeakable is regularly said in Gaza," said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva via video message from Rafah in southern Gaza, he said the agency had on Monday held a meeting with adolescents.
Several said they were "so desperate for this nightmare to end that they hoped to be killed", he said.
The UN has warned that Gaza is facing a looming famine, spurring increasingly urgent appeals for Israel to open up more border crossings and to stop hampering the movement of aid through the Palestinians territory.
The Israelis "have a right to control. They inspect every single gram, litre, kilo of whatever goes into Gaza," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, told reporters.
"But they cannot say that once it's inside, we leave it with you. They must create this enabling environment that allows us to move it around."
"We need to dispel this notion that their obligation with getting aid in somehow stops with getting a few trucks, a fraction of what is needed, across the border," he said.
"That is not correct."
Elder meanwhile pointed out that the Israelis had denied a quarter of the 40 mission requests to the north since the beginning of the month.
"Now there is an existing old crossing point that could be used in the north 10 minutes from where those people are putting their hands to their mouth pleading for food," he said, referring to the Erez Crossing.
"10 minutes. Open that and we could turn this humanitarian crisis around in a matter of days. But it remains closed."
"Let's be clear, life-saving aid is being obstructed, lives are being lost, dignity is being denied."
A young Palestinian girl stands amid the rubble of a building hit by overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. AFP
A young girl injured in Israeli bombardment, reacts as she sits on the floor at the al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. AFP
Palestinian children react near the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, on Sunday. REUTERS
A Palestinian child sits at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. REUTERS
A man carries children injured in Israeli bombardment, at the al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. AFP
Children look on as they stand with other displaced people evacuating from Gaza City on Monday. AFP
A Palestinian family walk past buildings destroyed in previous Israeli strikes as they collect things rescued from the rubble and wood in Gaza City, Monday. AFP
A girl holds a white flag as a displaced Palestinian family walks in Gaza City, on Monday. AFP
A boy salvages a mattress from the rubble of a building that was hit overnight during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. AFP
A girl eats biscuits as a woman behind her reaches for the pack as they evacuate from Gaza City on Monday. AFP
A girl walks carrying pillows as she and others evacuate from Gaza City on Monday. AFP