Geneva, 7 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) -- The past year in the Middle East has been an "unrelenting tragedy," the United Nations said on Monday.

Monday marks the anniversary of the terrorist attack by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas militia and others, where more than 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and around 250 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.

Israel retaliated with massive attacks that have killed more than 41,800 people, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Hamas does not distinguish between militant and civilian deaths. The figures cannot be independently verified.

"No statistics or words can fully convey the extent of the physical, mental and societal devastation that has taken place," Joyce Msuya, the acting head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Msuya called on EU member states to "wield their influence" to ensure international humanitarian law and human rights were respected.

"They must also work to end impunity. An immediate ceasefire and durable peace are long overdue."

Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced and civilians face extreme deprivation, with limited or no access to health care, food, electricity or humanitarian aid, OCHA said.

More than 300 aid workers had been killed in Gaza – more than in any other single crisis, making it the most dangerous place for aid workers, the agency added.

"Humanitarian workers must be safeguarded and their work facilitated. Perpetrators must be held accountable for any serious violations of international humanitarian law. And the assault on Gaza must stop."