Cairo, June 3 : An official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza has said that people in the besieged Palestinian enclave need sufficient food aid to avoid famine.

"There is no safe zone in the enclave, and the humanitarian crisis is getting more complex," Inas Hamdan, UNRWA acting public information officer in Gaza, said on Sunday in a live interview in Cairo with Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News television network.

She said shelter centres in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis and central Gaza are crowded with Palestinians fleeing from Rafah, the enclave's southernmost city, amid Israeli attacks, adding that "the number of people accumulated in each centre is approximately 16,000".

She noted that UNRWA teams are trying to provide health services and distribute food supplies to the shelters, which need sufficient food aid to avoid famine, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

At least 36,439 Palestinians have been killed and more than 82,627 others injured since then, according to the figures released by the Gaza health authorities.

/IANS