UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he was shocked such decisions were taken as “famine looms” in Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly four months of relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed more than 26,000 people.

The agency, with its 13,000 employees in Gaza, is the main organisation aiding Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster. More than two million of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people depend on the UNRWA for “sheer survival”, including food and shelter, Lazzarini said, warning this lifeline can “collapse any time now”.