Gaza’s health ministry says the Israeli army is using the new mechanism for distributing aid for mass killings and as a tool for the forced displacement of the enclave’s residents, Al Jazeera reports.

Its statement on Telegram quoted Dr Munir Al-Barsh, the director general of the ministry, as condemning “the international silence regarding the massacres being committed against the starving residents of the Gaza Strip”.

He also indicated that hospitals in Gaza are facing dire conditions due to a severe shortage of medicines and other supplies, adding that Israel is still preventing about 3,000 trucks with medical supplies in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish from crossing into the enclave.

Al-Barsh also accused Israel of “deliberately spreading infectious diseases and epidemics” through the blockade.