Tel Aviv, Israel - Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country would continue to starve Gaza by blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid, as the mass killing of Palestinians continues.

"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement, amid a major humanitarian crisis following Israel's decision to prevent the entry of aid since March 2.

"No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid," Katz said.

The UN warned on Monday that Gaza is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since October 2023, when Israel began an assault that experts consider to have long sicne crossed the threshold into genocide. A UN panel concluded as early as the beginning of March that Israel was committing crimes against humanity by "weaponizing starvation."

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Denial of humanitarian aid in a conflict is a war crime under international law.

"The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half, and medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials – all blocked by Israel – are in critically short supply.

"Due to the closure of the crossings compounded by restrictions within Gaza, dwindling supplies have forced them (aid workers) to ration and reduce deliveries to make the most of the remaining stocks," OCHA said.

Backed by the US, Israel resumed its destruction of Gaza after reneging on a ceasefire deal that came into effect on January 19. Hundreds of thousands of people have since been violently displaced while Israeli forces push to annex large parts of the Palestinian territory.