“The last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. The UN chief “deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition.”

More than two dozen Western countries Monday also called for an immediate end to the war, saying that suffering had “reached new depths” as Israel’s military expanded its operations to Gaza’s central city of Deir el-Balah.

“The secretary-general notes that the intensification of hostilities in recent days comes as the humanitarian system is being impeded, undermined and endangered,” Dujarric said.

“A new evacuation order in parts of Deir el-Balah – home to tens of thousands – pushes people into more desperate conditions and further displacement and restricts the UN’s ability to deliver life-saving aid.”