Gazans will “inevitably” be struck with “massive outbreaks of disease and hunger”, the UN Human Rights Chief has said.
Volker Turk made the comments while speaking at an informal briefing to states at the United Nations in Geneva on Thursday, after visiting the Middle East.
He said the depletion of fuel would be "catastrophic" across Gaza, leading to the collapse of sewage systems, healthcare and ending the scarce humanitarian aid being supplied.
The World Health Organization has already warned of "worrying trends" in disease spread in Gaza.
It says there has been an unusually large number of cases of diarrhoeal disease in the enclave, where bombardments and a ground operation have disrupted the health system, access to clean water and caused people to crowd into shelters.
Mr Turk, who described the bombardment by Israel as "of an intensity rarely experienced in this century," also expressed concern about increasing violence and discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
He said: "In my view, this creates a potentially explosive situation, and I want to be clear: We are well beyond the level of early warning.
"I am ringing the loudest possible alarm bell about the occupied West Bank."
At least 176 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in incidents involving Israeli security forces since the beginning of October, while at least another eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers, according to the UN.
Palestinians also say they are being subjected to physical assaults, attacks on their on their property and restrictions on accessing their land – which has become particularly problematic for families who rely on farming olives to support themselves.
About two weeks ago, Tayseer Mahmoud said an Israeli settler shot his nephew Bilal Saleh dead while harvesting near the city of Nablus.
Settler leader Yossi Dagan then said in a video posted to Facebook that the shooter was accompanied by family members and fired in self-defence after they were “attacked with rocks by dozens of rioting Hamas supporters.”
The Israeli military said it received a report of a “violent confrontation” between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, and that a Palestinian was reported killed. Police have opened an investigation, it said.
The violence has gotten so intense that it has drawn condemnation from U.S. President Joe Biden. Attacks by extremist settlers, Biden said, amounted to “pouring gasoline” on fires already burning in the Middle East since the Hamas attack.
Israel argues it has been conducting counter-terrorism operations against militants from Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in the West Bank.
On Thursday, three suspected Palestinian assailants opened fire at a checkpoint on a road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday, wounding six security force members before the assailants were shot dead, Israeli police said.
The suspects arrived in a vehicle from the direction of Bethlehem, Shabtai told reporters at the scene, and opened fire when the Israeli forces there began questioning them. They were killed when the Israeli forces shot back, Israeli police chief Yaakov Shabtai said.
He added that officers then found two automatic rifles, two handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, 10 fully loaded magazines and two axes on the suspects and in their vehicle.
