The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” faced by people in Gaza as he called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s offensive with Hamas.

“Hunger weakens the body’s defenses and opens the door to disease,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Gaza is already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks. Diarrhoea cases among children aged under 5 are 25 times what they were before the conflict,” he said.