Dr Munir al-Bursh, director of Gaza’s health ministry, said the UN should make an official declaration of famine in the Strip as an Israeli blockade choking off access to food and other vital goods enters its third month, Al Jazeera reports.

“We call on the United Nations to issue an official declaration of famine in Gaza, given that field indicators and medical and humanitarian data confirm that international conditions for this have been met,” he said.

Here are some points he shared with Al Jazeera about the dire conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza.

• 91 per cent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing a food crisis two months after Israel closed the crossings.
• 92pc of children and breastfeeding mothers in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition.
• 65pc of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip do not have access to clean drinking water.