Chris McIntosh, a humanitarian response adviser at Oxfam in Gaza, says Israel has sidelined “the entire humanitarian community”.

“Ourselves and 60 other organisations were told that we’re simply not authorised to bring in the shipments [of aid],” McIntosh told Al Jazeera.

“Other organisations have been told that there are security concerns about bringing in things like generators. There are concerns about dual-purpose items like solar panels and tents being brought in,” he said. “So there’s no end to the byzantine bureaucracy of Israel and these very flimsy excuses for not allowing us to do our jobs.”

McIntosh added that what little food is available in Gaza is limited, expensive and not nutritious, which causes acute malnutrition and starvation, particularly among children.

“The situation here is catastrophic on multiple levels.”