The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has said that 70 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from “extreme weakness caused by starvation” making it difficult to access aid, Al Jazeera reports.

“The physical exhaustion is so profound that many are unable to make the long journey on foot to distribution sites or carry heavy loads even if they receive assistance,” the DRC said in a survey of Palestinians in Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, Gaza City and North Gaza.

Of the 39 people DRC interviewed between May 22 and July 27, 46pc said they received clean drinking water twice a week at their current locations. Meanwhile, 28pc said they could get a hot meal from a communal kitchen just once a week and 31pc said they had received no services in the month before being interviewed.

The Palestinians said they “witnessed people, including family members, being deliberately targeted, shot, and killed by soldiers” when they went to access aid, at what the DRC called a “militarised backed distribution scheme”. Due to the violence, people described the aid as “blood aid” or “aid soaked in blood”, the DRC added.