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The Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rising numbers of rapes in shelters as public order falls apart, the United Nations said on Friday.

Palestinians are suffering "on a scale that has to be seen to be truly grasped", Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said after concluding his latest visit to the devastated Palestinian territory.

"This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Amman.

"The breakdown of public order and safety is exacerbating the situation with rampant looting and fighting over scarce resources.

"The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here," he said, calling the situation entirely predictable, foreseeable and preventable.

Sunghay said young women, many displaced multiple times, had stressed the lack of any safe spaces or privacy in their makeshift tents.

"Others said that cases of gender-based violence and rape, abuse of children and other violence within the community has increased in shelters as a consequence of the war and the breakdown of law enforcement and public order," he said.

Scavenging in landfills

Sunghay described the situation in Gaza City as "horrendous", with thousands of displaced people sheltering in "inhumane conditions with severe food shortages and terrible sanitary conditions".

He recounted seeing, for the first time, dozens of women and children in the besieged enclave now scavenging in giant landfills.

The level of destruction in Gaza "just gets worse and worse", he added.

"The common plea by everyone I met was for this to stop. To bring this to an end. Enough."

He said the UN was being blocked from taking any aid to the 70,000 people still thought to be living in northern Gaza, due to "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in - and it is not."

UN Human Rights Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence called for an immediate ceasefire.

"The killing must end," he said.

"The hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Those arbitrarily detained must be released," he added.

"And every effort must be made to urgently provide the full quantities of food, medicine and other vital assistance desperately needed in Gaza."

More than 44,300 people have been killed by Israel's relentless war on Gaza since 7 October, 2023, and over 105,000 others have been wounded. Most of the casualties have been women and children.