The World Health Organization has said 18 of Gaza 36 hospitals are still functioning in any capacity: three are providing basic first aid only, while the rest are delivering partial services. Twelve of the 18 are in the south.

There are 1,400 hospital beds still available in Gaza. The WHO says 5,000 are needed.

Richard Peeperkorn said that since the start of the war, there had been 120,000 acute respiratory infections; close to 26,000 people with scabies and lice; 86,000 cases of diarrhoea, including 44,000 among children aged under five, which he said was 20 to 30 times higher than could be expected.

Meanwhile some 1,150 cases of jaundice have been recorded, along with cases of chicken pox, skin rashes and meningitis.