A recent UN-backed report warned of an imminent famine in northern Gaza, where little aid has arrived in the past month.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya said international crimes were being committed in Gaza.
Briefing council members at the United Nations on Tuesday, Ms. Msuya reported that Israeli authorities were blocking humanitarian aid from entering the northern Gaza region, where fighting continues.
She said 75,000 people remain there with supplies dwindling.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave Israel 30 days to allow more aid trucks to arrive in Gaza each day. That deadline expired Tuesday.
A letter to the Israeli government called on the country to end its isolation of the besieged northern region, while aid groups warned that Israel’s military offensive was starving civilians.
Eight humanitarian aid organizations said the situation had actually worsened since the letter was sent.
But the U.S. response on Tuesday indicates that Washington will continue to supply weapons to its allies despite growing warnings from aid groups that Israel’s offensive to the north is killing civilians and displacing them.
But the Israeli military says it is trying to prevent a Hamas resurgence in the region.
Israel said it had significantly increased the amount of aid it was sending to Gaza and accused aid agencies of failing to distribute it properly.
In Beit Hanun, which has been under siege for more than a month, Ms. Msuya said food and water arrived at the shelter only on Monday as Israeli soldiers prepared to force people to move out of the area on Tuesday.
Ilse Keris, UN Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights, said Israel’s pattern and frequency of attacks appeared to systematically target civilians.
Much of the death and destruction was caused by American weapons provided to Israel to help fight Hamas.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas after an attack on the group in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people. Another 251 people were taken hostage.
More than 43,000 people have since died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
