The U.N. secretary-general warned Friday that the humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip is facing "a total collapse," and if adequate aid and fuel do not get through, civilians there will face "unimaginable consequences."

"Misery is growing by the minute," U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "Without a fundamental change, the people of Gaza will face an unprecedented avalanche of human suffering."

He said the United Nations will not be able to continue to deliver aid inside Gaza without an "immediate and fundamental shift" in how it is going in. He said the verification system for goods at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt must be adjusted so many more trucks can enter the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip without delay.

"Everyone must assume their responsibilities," he said. "This is a moment of truth. History is judging us all."

Earlier Friday in Jerusalem, the head of the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees warned that Gazans are being "strangled."

"As we speak, people in Gaza are dying," UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini told reporters. "They are dying not only from bombs and strikes. Soon, many more will die from the consequences of siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Basic services are crumbling. Medicine is running out. Food and water are running out."

About 2.2 million people live in the Gaza Strip, and the United Nations estimates more than 1.4 million of them have been displaced by the hostilities that erupted following Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israeli towns and cities that killed 1,400 people.

Since then, Israel has been bombing Hamas targets in Gaza and has imposed a blockade. Thousands of Palestinian civilians have died. The World Health Organization said Friday that 41% of the dead are children.

Gaza has been under a full electricity blackout for 18 days. After two weeks of international negotiations, the first relief supplies went in on October 21. In all, 74 trucks carrying food, water and medicine have entered Gaza this week, but no fuel. The U.N. hoped to get eight more trucks in on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it got six trucks with medical supplies and a war surgery team into Gaza on Friday. Before the crisis, about 500 supply trucks entered Gaza daily.

Lazzarini said the aid that is getting in is grossly inadequate.

"These few trucks are nothing more than crumbs that will not make a difference for 2 million people," he told reporters. "We should avoid conveying the message that a few trucks a day means the siege is lifted for humanitarian aid. It is not."

He repeated U.N. calls for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.

"This is not too much to ask for," Lazzarini said.

The lack of fuel is threatening the entire humanitarian effort. UNRWA is down to its last fuel supplies and Israel has not allowed any in, saying Hamas will divert it for its war machine. Israel also says Hamas has stockpiled large quantities of fuel and is hoarding it for military purposes.

Without fuel, aid convoys cannot make their deliveries, hospitals cannot run generators that keep life support and other machines running, water desalination plants will stop working and more bakeries will shut down.

"Only two of our contracted bakeries have fuel to produce bread at the moment and tomorrow there might be none," said the World Food Program's Samer Abdeljaber. "This would be a terrible blow to the thousands of families living in shelters who have been relying on the daily bread deliveries."

WFP said Friday that only two of the 23 bakeries in Gaza that they use to feed nearly a quarter of a million people are still functioning.

Diplomatic track

In New York, diplomats are in the second day of a special emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly. They are debating a resolution put forward by Jordan as head of the Arab group of member states that calls for "an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities." A vote was expected later Friday.

"The right to self-defense is not a license to kill with impunity," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at the meeting's start on Thursday. "Collective punishment is not self-defense. It is a war crime."

He said Israel will likely ignore any General Assembly resolution, but nations should still vote for it and take a stand for peace. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they express the will of the international community.

Israel's envoy said his government is not at war with the Palestinian people, but with Hamas, who he called "modern-day Nazis." Ambassador Gilad Erdan criticized the proposal for not mentioning Hamas, and he rejected cease-fire calls, saying Israel would "completely eradicate Hamas' capabilities" using all means available to do it.

"Any call for a cease-fire is not an attempt at peace," Erdan said. "It is an attempt to tie Israel's hands, preventing us from eliminating a huge threat to our citizens."

Washington's envoy criticized the proposal for lacking a condemnation of Hamas and not issuing a call for the unconditional release of the more than 220 hostages they abducted from Israel.

"These are omissions of evil and they give cover to, and they empower Hamas' brutality," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the assembly on Friday. "And no member state – no member state – should allow that to happen."

Canada has submitted an amendment that contains both of those elements, and the assembly will vote later whether to include it in the proposed resolution.

Thomas-Greenfield said it is important that once the current conflict ends, there is no return to the pre-October 7 status quo.

"The status quo is untenable, and it is unacceptable," she said. "This means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next. In our view that vision must be centered around a two-state solution. Getting there will require concerted efforts by all of us."

The General Assembly convened its special session after the Security Council failed to adopt a similar resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire. The council considered four different texts, but each failed to garner the necessary support or was blocked by a veto.