In an emotional statement, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza after describing the situation there as “devastating”.

“Today I visited the Gaza Strip to meet with children, their families and UNICEF staff. What I saw and heard was devastating. They have endured repeated bombardment, loss and displacement. Inside the Strip, there is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn,” Russell said in a statement released on Wednesday.

She added that more than 4,600 children have been killed during Israeli airstrikes with an additional 9,000 reportedly injured.

The statement comes after the United Nations announced it is mourning the death of more than 100 of its aid workers, who lost their lives during Israeli bombardments on Gaza.  

“The intermittent opening of Gaza’s border crossings to shipments of humanitarian supplies is insufficient to meet the skyrocketing needs,” the UNICEF executive further explained asking all parties to ensure a ceasefire in order to save civilian lives.

Human rights activists have been calling on Israel to refraining treating civilian sites as battlegrounds, and put an end to the brutal killing of Palestinian children.