Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), says there has been an “escalation” in Israel’s war on Gaza over the past 24 hours as the Israeli military keeps pounding the blockaded territory.

In a post on X on Sunday, Lazzarini reiterated his calls for a ceasefire, saying that “the world must not become numb.”

The UNRWA chief said Israel has violated all rules of engagement with attacks on schools and hospitals.

“All wars have rules. All of those rules have been broken,” he stated.

“A ceasefire is long overdue—a respite for civilians wherever they are including across Gaza & the immediate release of hostages. Enough time was wasted,” he stated.

At least seven people were killed and several others injured after an Israeli airstrike targeted tents housing the displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi refugee camp, near Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.

In central Gaza, a similar strike on a school northwest of the Nuseirat refugee camp caused several fatalities.

The regime’s artillery also shelled several areas across Gaza, leaving an unknown number of Palestinians dead or injured.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led resistance groups waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to its decades-long campaign of devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 45,227 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 107,573 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The Israeli military has completely destroyed 70 percent of buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp as the occupying regime continues with its deadly aggression against northern Gaza.

Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst, wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday that the Jabalia refugee camp has become a “ghost town” amid Israel’s deadly offensive in the area.