Gaza remains at high risk of famine as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues and access to aid is restricted, though delivery of supplies had limited the projected spread of extreme hunger in northern areas, Reuters quotes a global monitor as saying.

More than 495,000 people across the Gaza Strip are facing the most severe, or “catastrophic”, level of food insecurity, according to an update from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

That is down from a forecast of 1.1 million in the previous update three months ago, but is still more than one fifth of Gaza’s population.

Under “catastrophic” food insecurity, households suffer an extreme lack of food, leading to acute malnutrition in young children, an imminent risk of starvation, and deaths.

The IPC assessment published on Tuesday said that to buy food, more than half of Gazan households surveyed had to sell clothes and one third gathered and sold rubbish.

Over 20 per cent reported going entire days and nights without eating. Overall, about 96pc of the population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in the period until September.

Israel’s offensive around the southern city of Rafah from early May and other hostilities and displacement have led to a renewed deterioration in recent weeks, it added.

“The humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip continues to shrink and the ability to safely deliver assistance to populations is dwindling. The recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable,” the update said.