Fighting has escalated in the Libyan city of Derna, with air raids, shelling of residential areas and heavy ground clashes, the United Nations humanitarian office said on Thursday.

There were severe water, food and medicine shortages, and electricity and water were completely cut off for the city's 125,000 residents, it said in a report that described the violence as "unprecedented" there.

The eastern city has been encircled since July 2017 by the Libyan National Army (LNA), whose commander Khalifa Haftar opposes the internationally recognized government based in the country's west.

Located on the coast around 270 km (165 miles) from the border with Egypt, it is the only major town in eastern Libya outside LNA control.

"The LNA has announced that it now has control over the city’s eastern and western entrances ... and surrounding areas where clashes have been taking place," the U.N. report said.

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