At least 800,000 Palestinians have been displaced from the southern Gaza city of Rafah since Israel began its ground offensive.

Edem Wosornu, the United Nations director of operations and advocacy for the Office of Humanitarian Affairs, revealed this at the meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Gaza.

Ms Wosornu said the conditions at the displacement sites are “horrendous,” lacking adequate toilets, clean water, sewage and shelter.

“Today, the once overcrowded camps and emergency shelters in Rafah have now largely emptied, with the majority of the displaced seeking refuge in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah,” she said.

Ms Wosornu said the UN and its partners are already struggling to offer the displaced assistance, as they cannot get supplies into Gaza at the scale required.

An update from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), revealed that the city of Rafah is now comprised of three entirely different worlds: the east is an archetypal war zone, the middle is a ghost town, and the west is a congested mass of people living in deplorable conditions.

“People have no choice but to put their faith in so-called ‘humanitarian safe zones’ designated by the forces that have killed their family members and destroyed their homes.

“They have dragged their families and few possessions onward to new locations for the seventh, eighth, ninth time in seven months of the war,” the NRC reports stated.

There are no tents left for people as the Rafah crossing continues to be closed due to Israel’s operations. 

Also, there is extremely low liquidity, people have no access to cash to buy food or water or pay for transportation to flee.

Amid the situation, Israel’s envoy to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, explained that it had also become more terrible as civilians in Rafah had to be evacuated, stressing that the move should be supported not condemned.

Mr Erdan explained that Israel was also advancing its military operation in Gaza “slowly and carefully” to avoid civilian casualties, adding that the operation must be done.

“They have moved to a designated humanitarian zone that is being filled with aid,” he told the council of the Israeli-designated sites.

The Security Council, the United States and many other countries have urged Israel not to enter Rafah because of the likelihood of high civilian casualties.

As of Monday, the main humanitarian crossing at Rafah remained closed.

The Israel Defence Forces took it over on May 7, a day after launching its ground operation into eastern Rafah, and no aid trucks have crossed it since.

However, Ms Wosornu said 82,000 metric tons of food and medical supplies are stranded and spoiling on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting to cross.

He noted that 10 of 16 UN-supported bakeries will run out of stock and fuel within days if no additional supplies come in.

He said another six in southern Gaza have stopped working, either because of fuel shortages or active fighting.

Meanwhile, a $320 million U.S.-funded and -constructed floating pier off Gaza began receiving aid on Thursday, but only 10 truckloads have come through it since Saturday, a UNspokesperson said.

Fuel supplies also remain dangerously low, limiting the movement of aid convoys.