The United Nations is warning that more than one million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of starvation by the middle of next month. Israel is under pressure to allow more aid across the border, and doctors fear the situation will only get worse, especially for young children. Earlier, I spoke to our correspondent, John Donison in Jerusalem, and asked him about aid getting in.

Well, the UN and aid agencies in Gaza have been arguing for a long time that Israel needs to open up more land border crossings to allow aid into Gaza. They say that is the most effective and efficient way to get in. Israel has the Kerem Shalom Crossing, which goes into Southern Gaza, where it says it's allowing in around 200 trucks of aid a day. Now, you'll remember there has been this US-built pier off the Coast of Gaza, which has been beset by problems. That was set up around a month ago to try and get aid in, but we think it's only actually been operational for about 10 days in the past month. It's had problems with rough seas. It had to be dismantled. That is now up and running again. Us Central Command, say around 6000 metric tons of aid managed to get into the territory yesterday. But aid agencies say it's a drop in the ocean of what's really needed. And as temperatures soar in Gaza, there's a real need for more food and especially clean water. And my report now, I should warn you, does include some images some people may find upsetting.

This is what eight months of war in Gaza has done to a nine-year-old boy. Younis Jumah is severely dehydrated and malnourished. His mother, Khaneima, is by his hospital bedside in Khan Younis.

My son was in excellent health before. He was normal. But when he developed his malnutrition and dehydration, he became, as you see, for almost a full week, he was too ill and stopped eating and drinking correctly.

Along the corridor is five-year-old Tala. Her father, Ibrahim, tries to offer comfort, but he knows scorching weather, close to 40 degrees, and a lack of clean water have brought his daughter close to death.

The situation is getting worse. You can't imagine the temperature in our tent, and the water you drink is definitely contaminated because both old and young are getting sick.

And with their houses destroyed, hundreds of thousands of Garzans are now living under canvas with little protection from the scorching sun. Getting water, whether it's clean or not, is a daily struggle. Long queues form at distribution centers. The UN says two-thirds One of the strips's water and sanitation system, poor at the best of times, has been destroyed.

We need a tremendous international effort to reestablish water and sewage networks.

We in Khanunis have lost between 170 and 200 kilometers of pipes, which have been completely destroyed, along with the wells and the water tanks.

The United Nations has warned more than a million Gazans are facing the highest level of starvation by the middle of July. The International Criminal Court prosecutor has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. Israel strongly disputes this, and its ministers have denied there is a humanitarian crisis. For Eununis and his mother, Hanima, though, it doesn't feel that way.

What seems to be one of the problems, doctors say, is that Many people, especially children, are picking up gastric infections, problems with diarrhea because they're drinking infected water, and that is causing people to lose significant amounts of weight. Now, the Israeli government, of course, blames Hamas for bringing this war onto the people of Gaza. But I think the concern for aid agencies is that as the temperatures continue to soar in Gaza, this week It's been in the high 30s, even as high as 40 degrees. The situation is only going to get worse.

John Donison, then. Well, earlier, I spoke to Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization. Here's her view on this UN report.

This should not be happening. We have been warning about this for months and months and months that the systematic starvation, the lack of food coming in, but particularly, as you've highlighted, the conditions people are living the destruction of the infrastructure, which means 70% of facilities are not working, people are living amid rivers of sewerage, it means we have seen since the early days of this conflict, an increasing rise in diarrhea, particularly among children, but all adults as well. And that destroy takes all the nutrients out of your body. Even if you're getting adequate food, even if you're getting adequate water, that can be enough to make you very, very ill. But the combination in a child under five of diarrheia, starvation, and dehydration is a death sentence.

What do you make of this use of the word famine? How helpful is it? And how do you measure that?

It's measured technically by a group who look at all the features and look at it very carefully, so carefully, but actually, once a famine is declared, it's too late. That means the horse has bolted, the damage is done. So the whole point of our work, the work of all the humanitarian agencies, is to prevent this catastrophe and prevent this disaster. And we're just calling on the world to insist It's going to be a ceasefire. The work to just get things back to normal for the Gazans is going to be enormous, and it should have started months and months ago. We need that ceasefire now.

As you have said, damage to a sanitation system is a problem in terms of disease. But in terms of getting the aid in, what are your thoughts on this pier, which has not been fully operational, and also distributing food within the Gaza Strip, which, of course, with damaged infrastructure, is also highly problematic.

This is absolutely critical. We need to be able to move the aid in and move it in safely to all people wherever they are all the time. Now, remember, garçons used to grow their own fruit, but they can't now. Most of their farmland has been destroyed. We also need to be able to move in health workers and move patients out. We've been asking for our movements to be guaranteed safe at all times and to be able to take place across all the routes and crossings. The delivery of aid to the civilian population in war is protected by international humanitarian law, so it should be the rule, not the exception.

What is your view regarding this peer and how helpful it might prove to be?

So that's something that's being built by another group. And if anything that gets aid in of any kind is helpful, but it's not helpful if it just stays on the beach. It's got to be moved to where it's needed. And there's increasingly levels of lawlessness as people are becoming more and more desperate. So again, you need to be able to distribute it properly, and at least you need to be able to distribute the right stuff. So as we see more and more people with severe they need specific refeeding. It's not just a matter of throwing them a nice meal now and then. You have to give them the nutrients that will restore their bodily functions and get them back healthy again.