India, April 18 -- The head of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees briefed the UN Security Council in New York as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, telling ambassadors that life-saving deliveries are being blocked by Israel as part of an "insidious campaign" to push it out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

UNRWA is the backbone of the aid effort in support of more than two million Gazans displaced and battered by war, said Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA.

A man-made famine is tightening its grip but UNRWA is being denied permission to delivery enough life-saving aid, the UNRWA chief told the Security Council.

He noted that 178 UNRWA workers have been killed and 160 premises destroyed or damaged, ...