Just as the UN is calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas, it’s crucial for Israel to give “immediate unconditional access” to humanitarian aid for desperate civilians forced to move south, the UN’s top official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory told UN News on Sunday.

Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings said the UN is in intensive discussions with Israeli authorities over humanitarian corridors and a vital ceasefire, to avert further castastrophe for civilians, with a million Palestinians already displaced amid the total “collapse” of Gaza’s already fragile health system.

Israel says “they want to destroy Hamas, but the current trajectory is going to destroy Gaza” she told UN News’s Reem Abaza.