GAZA, (PIC)-- John Ging, the director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, has denied Israeli allegations that the Hamas Movement was using the Shifa hospital as a temporary headquarters for its leaders.

Ging told reporters on Tuesday that he visited the hospital on Monday and denied that Hamas was using it.

He pointed out that around 40 foreign doctors had joined the medical staff in Shifa on Monday.

Ging warned of a human calamity as water stopped reaching around half a million Palestinians in the Strip, adding that repairing water pipelines was not possible with the battles still raging.

The UNRWA official said that Palestinians taking refuge in the agency's schools had reached 35,000, asserting that his agency was trying to open new centers to serve as temporary shelters for those Palestinians fleeing fighting.