Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) in Gaza, says Israel’s “total and complete blockade” of the Strip, which is nearing the end of its second month, is causing “endless suffering”, Al Jazeera reports.

“The coming days in Gaza are going to be critical. Today, people are not surviving in Gaza. Those that aren’t being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying,” Whittall told journalists at a news conference in Gaza City.

“As humanitarians, we can see that aid is being weaponised through its denial,” he said. “There’s no justification for the denial of humanitarian assistance.”

Whittall also confirmed that the WFP’s stockpiles in Gaza are exhausted and said “there are no meaningful food distributions currently happening in” the Strip.

He warned that Gaza is on the verge of “full-scale famine conditions” but said such a declaration will need to be based on evidence. OCHA will be working with other organisations to determine whether the hunger crisis in Gaza constitutes a famine, he added.