Israel hit back on Wednesday at growing international criticism that it was behind chronic food shortages in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

More than 100 aid and human rights groups said earlier Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in the Gaza Strip, while France warned of a growing "risk of famine" caused by "the blockade imposed by Israel".

The head of the World Health Organization also weighed in, saying that a "large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving".

"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation -- and it's man-made," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

But an Israeli government spokesman, David Mencer, said there was "no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas."

President Isaac Herzog, visiting troops in Gaza, maintained that Israel was acting "according to international law", while Hamas was "trying to sabotage" aid distribution in a bid to obstruct the Israeli military campaign that began more than 21 months ago.

An organisation backed by the United States and Israel,........

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