The new funding will be handed to the World Food Programmes’ emergency appeal to help deal with food shortages, said the Department for International Development. The money will provide emergency food for more than 300,000 people.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening added: ‘After more than three weeks of fighting, the death toll in Gaza is rising and more than 200,000 people, many of them children, have been displaced from their homes.

‘We urgently need to stop the bloodshed: we continue to call for an unconditional and immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent any more needless suffering.’

Greening said the situation is Gaza was dire, but noted that the UK was helping to meet immediate needs.

This latest support from the UK brings to £10m the amount the country has released to help Gaza since the latest crisis began. 

The UK has already committed £4m to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Gaza Flash Appeal. An additional £3m has been sent to the wider relief effort in Gaza.