The primary U.N. aid agency in besieged Gaza has issued a dire warning that its operations will cease at midnight Wednesday due to a fuel shortage, with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Reports are flooding in that overnight Israeli strikes have left devastation in their wake, killing at least 80 people.

The alarm bells for a spiraling humanitarian crisis are ringing louder than ever in this heavily bombarded Gaza.

In fact, one doctor, struggling against insurmountable odds, revealed that he was compelled to perform emergency surgeries without anesthesia.

Besides the fuel scarcity that is plunging Gaza into darkness, Israel has also severed the lifeline of basic necessities, cutting off the usual supply of water, food, and other essential provisions.

An astonishingly low number of relief trucks – less than 70 to be exact – have been allowed in since the war's inception, leaving U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres to describe it as "a drop of aid in an ocean of need."

The humanitarian catastrophe spiraled out of control when Israel retaliated to the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion by bombing the coastal strip with immense brutality.

As days turned into weeks, the toll in Gaza escalated, and the numbers are staggering – more than 5,800 lives, many of them innocent children, have been claimed by the relentless bombardments.

Within the desolation of the battered Palestinian territory, voices rise in anger and despair.

Abu Ali Zaarab, whose family home in Rafah was turned to rubble, said in frustration, "They are not waging war on Hamas; they are waging war on children ... It is a massacre."

On the global stage, tempers flared at the United Nations.

Guterres decried the "epic suffering" in Gaza and the "collective punishment" inflicted on its 2.4 million residents.

Israel, in turn, responded with fury as Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen recounted graphic accounts of civilians in what he labeled "the deadliest single attack in Israeli history."

In an unprecedented move, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called for Guterres to resign, taking to social media to accuse the U.N. chief of "expressing an understanding for terrorism and murder."

The United States, a staunch ally of Israel, found itself walking a tightrope in this turbulent diplomatic dance.

President Joe Biden, who had earlier condemned the "barbaric" attacks by Hamas, also brokered the entry of relief trucks via Egypt.

Yet he shared the growing concern that the lifeline of aid was "not fast enough."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed this sentiment, stressing the urgency of humanitarian assistance, "food, water, medicine, and other essential humanitarian assistance must be able to flow into Gaza."

He also called for "humanitarian pauses" to be considered for these purposes.

On the 19th day of the Israeli air and artillery strikes, with Gaza under a near-total land, sea, and air blockade, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, finds itself on the brink.

"If we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip," the agency warned.

UNRWA provides aid to 600,000 displaced people in Gaza, where many families have been forced to sleep in the open.

Israel's refusal to allow fuel shipments into Gaza, citing fears that Hamas may use it for weaponry, has only deepened the crisis.

Aid groups have sounded the alarm, warning that lives are on the line as medical equipment, water desalination plants, and ambulances teeter on the edge of shutdown.

Gaza's only power plant blinked out weeks ago, plunging the region into darkness.

Amid this chaos, hospitals are overwhelmed, and patients are being treated on the floors.

The Red Cross warned that when generators cease to run, hospitals "turn into morgues."

Ahmad Abdul Hadi, an orthopedic surgeon working in the emergency room of Nasser hospital, Khan Yunis, shared the stark reality:

"We performed a number of surgeries on the wounded without anesthesia. It's tough and painful, but with the lack of resources, what can we do?"

Shelters and emergency tent cities are bursting at the seams, crammed with an estimated 1.4 million displaced individuals, more than half the population of this tiny coastal strip.

The airstrikes persist as Israel claims to target Hamas. However, many residential buildings have been reduced to rubble.

Amine Abu Jazar, a displaced resident from Rafah, shared his harrowing experience, "At midnight, while we were sleeping, we suddenly felt shrapnel and rocks falling on us. We already have injured and martyrs among us; this is a tragedy. There's not even any electricity to see each other, the dead or the injured."

Israel had also continued to amass troops outside Gaza, hinting at a potential ground offensive that looms on the horizon.

The prospect of urban combat in a densely populated area riddled with tunnels raises concerns about the safety of civilians and hostages.