The UN accuses Israel of using famine as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people.

GENEVA (Reuters) – A UN expert said on Thursday that Israel was destroying Gaza's food system as part of a broader "hunger campaign" in its war against Hamas militants, and rebuked a UN human rights body for not doing more.

“The images of famine in Gaza are unbearable and you are doing nothing,” said Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council.

Humanitarian authorities have warned of the threat of famine five months after the start of the campaign against the Palestinian Islamist group, while hospitals in the isolated northern part of the enclave say children have begun dying of malnutrition.

Fakhri told the council that Israel was "destroying the food system in Gaza."

"Israel has mounted a campaign of famine against the Palestinian people in Gaza," he added, saying that this included targeting small-scale fishermen.

Several other countries criticized Israel for the growing famine in the enclave, including Egypt and Iraq.