Aid organizations are begging Israel to reverse its decision to refuse a humanitarian break to its siege of Gaza until all its hostages are freed.

Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), told CGTN "the humanitarian situation is deteriorating by the moment. We plead for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza."

The Red Cross has made similar requests, asking for fuel to be allowed in to prevent overwhelmed hospitals from "turning into morgues."

Etefa said that without replenishment WFP's emergency food supply operation would soon run out. She told CGTN: "Gaza is running out of food. The conflict has disrupted food production and distribution networks in Gaza and with the borders closed we don't have any way to replenish either the commercial supplies of food inside Gaza or our own stock of food commodities in our warehouses in Gaza."

This week the WFP launched an emergency operation to feed over 800,000 people in Gaza and the West Bank, communities currently lacking access to food, water and basic humanitarian supplies.

According to Etefa: "We've already started the distribution of fresh bread, canned food, and ready to eat meals to around 137,000 people, together with UNWRA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)."

But she said stocks are dwindling. "The reality is that the food stocks we have 'in country' are only enough for 44,000 people, so if we don't replenish the food trucks our operations will come to a halt."

Etefa told the Israeli government the WFP needs two things. "We need the ability to access these areas inside Gaza to be able to replenish our stocks and the funding that would allow us to quickly procure more food that we can use in the next few days."

She also urged the international populace to help raise the $17 million it says it needs to fund its next four weeks of operations.

Gazan authorities say the Palestinian city's sole electric power station has been switched off and hospitals are running out of fuel for emergency generators.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals could run out within hours. "The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians," ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni said in a statement on Thursday.

"As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can't be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues."

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Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said there would be no exceptions to the siege without freedom for Israeli hostages. "Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And nobody should preach us morals," Katz posted on social media platform X.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip in retribution for the deadliest attack on Jewish civilians since the Holocaust, when hundreds of gunmen poured across the barrier fence and rampaged through Israeli towns on Saturday.

Israel has responded so far by putting Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and launching by far the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying whole neighborhoods.

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