A World Health Organization official in Gaza said on Tuesday that the situation in the Strip is getting worse every hour as Israel intensifies its bombing of the south around the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.

“The situation is getting worse every hour,” Richard Peppercorn, the organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters via video link from Gaza, according to Reuters news agency.

He added: “The bombardment is intensifying everywhere, including the southern areas of Khan Yunis and even Rafah.”

Pepperkorn also said that "very little" humanitarian aid is reaching Gaza and that the World Health Organization is deeply concerned about the weakness of the health system in the densely populated enclave as more people move south to escape the bombardment.

He said: “I want to make clear that we are facing a growing humanitarian catastrophe.”

He explained that the World Health Organization had implemented an Israeli order to remove supplies from warehouses in Khan Yunis, and added that the organization had been informed that the area “will likely become an active combat zone in the coming days.”

“We want to make sure that we are actually able to deliver essential medical supplies,” he said.

Yesterday, Monday, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, appealed to Israel to withdraw the order. Israel denied that it had requested the warehouses be evacuated.