A World Health Organization (WHO) official said Tuesday that malnutrition rates in Gaza are rising, emergency treatments are running out, and hunger could have a lasting impact on an "entire generation."

Israel has blocked supplies from reaching the Strip since March 2, and resumed its war of extermination on Gaza two weeks later (March 18). A global hunger watchdog warned on Monday that half a million people there are facing famine.

The World Health Organization's representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Rick Peeperkorn, stated that he saw children who looked years younger than their age and visited a hospital in northern Gaza where more than 20% of the children examined were suffering from severe malnutrition.

"What we are seeing is an increasing trend in global acute malnutrition. I saw a five-year-old child, I would say he was two and a half," Peeperkorn said in a press conference via video link from Deir al-Balah.

"Without adequate nutritious food, clean water, and adequate healthcare, an entire generation will be permanently affected," he added, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.

For his part, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), told the BBC on Tuesday that he believes Israel is depriving civilians of food and aid as a weapon of war.

The New York Times revealed on Tuesday that while the Israeli government is publicly ignoring warnings of a severe food shortage after blocking aid deliveries since March 2, an internal analysis concluded that a crisis is looming if food supplies are not resumed.

Some Israeli military officials have concluded in private that Palestinians in Gaza face widespread famine unless aid deliveries resume within weeks, according to three Israeli defense officials familiar with the situation in the Strip.

Israel is pushing to implement its US-backed plan to bring aid into Gaza, which it says will isolate Hamas and distribute aid directly from what it calls neutral distribution sites.

The World Health Organization criticized the plan in a statement late Monday, describing it as "totally insufficient" to meet the urgent needs of the population.

Peppercorn said that because of the blockade, WHO only has enough stocks to treat 500 children suffering from severe malnutrition, which is only a fraction of the needs.

Citing figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, he added that 55 children have already died from severe malnutrition. Peeperkorn said he has seen many children in hospitals suffering from illnesses such as gastroenteritis and pneumonia, which can be fatal due to their weakened immunity linked to hunger. "Usually, you don't die from hunger, you die from illnesses associated with it," he added.