PALESTINIANS are facing a desperate humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to the widespread destruction of their homes, infrastructure, the health system and the lack of food, water and fuel, the UN warned today.

The warning came as calls for a ceasefire to halt the relentless attacks that the Israelis have mounted against Gaza since Hamas’s surprise uprising on October 7 continue to grow.

Dozens of local vigils were held across Britain on Wednesday and hundreds of people gathered outside Downing Street, chanting “shame on you,”  as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met US Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Hundreds of thousands of people are once again expected to descend on central London on Saturday.

A rally will take place in Trafalgar Square after protests in local boroughs come together in central London at 2.30pm.

Other actions will also take place across the country and a full list can be found on the Stop The War Coalition website.

The British government and the opposition continue to resist calls for them to back a ceasefire, despite the widespread protests and calls from their own MPs.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves stood by Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership position today saying: “I can understand why colleagues are calling for a ceasefire.

“But Keir was very clear in his speech… that the best and the quickest way to get food, to get medicine, fuel, to get water into Gaza and to get the people who are able to get out is through humanitarian pauses.

“Israel has the right to defend itself and bring home its hostages, but everything Israel does must be done within international humanitarian law.”

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe said, however, that parliamentarians who “continue to justify Israeli air strikes are war-mongering.”

And Labour MP Richard Burgon said that the government “should be using every diplomatic avenue possible to talk to governments of all persuasions to secure a negotiated ceasefire — one binding on all parties — to bring an end to this crisis.”

Mr Sunak discussed the crisis with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres at the AI summit at Bletchley Park today.

He previously criticised Mr Guterres’s calls for a ceasefire.

Today also marked the 106^th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, which campaigners say “paved the way for the colonisation of Palestine and the Nakba” — the “catastrophe” of 1948 when thousands of Palestinians were killed and over 750,000 were forced to leave their homes as Israel was formed.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said in a statement: “The current assault on Gaza is built on over 100 years of colonial violence.

“[More than 100] years later, Britain is still complicit in the violent dispossession of Palestinians.

“The British government approves the export of deadly weapons to Israel, used in attacks on Palestinians.”

PSC demanded Britain “stops arming Israel to end its shameful century-long complicity.”

Palestinian Mission to the UK head Husam Zomlot said: “It is the responsibility of the UK to correct this historic injustice, demand an immediate end to Israel’s aggression, recognise the state of Palestine and collect international support to once and for all end Israel’s occupation.”

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement that they were unable to provide support for the Palestinians and 70 of their own aid workers that have been killed during the unprecedented attack on Gaza.

Many experts have described the Israeli attacks as “collective punishment” and a war crime.

The statement said: “The provision of humanitarian assistance is extremely difficult due to the lack of fuel, continuous bombings and the destruction of infrastructure."

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 9,061 Palestinians have lost their lives during the attack and around 22,000 have been injured.

Many more victims are thought to be trapped or dead beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Around 4,000 Palestinian children have been killed during the attacks.

Israeli authorities say around 1,400 on their side have been killed.

At least 130 health workers have reportedly been killed by Israeli attacks.

The health system in Gaza has almost entirely collapsed with hospitals forced to carry out medical procedures without anaesthetics for the patients and barely any electricity.

The World Health Organisation said the lack of fuel for hospitals’ generators puts at risk 1,000 patients on kidney dialysis, 130 premature babies in incubators, as well as cancer patients and patients on ventilators.

Israel has refused to allow fuel in, saying it fears Hamas would steal it for military purposes.

Only hours of electricity remained at Gaza City’s largest hospital, Shifa, according to its director, Mohammed Abu Salmia, who pleaded for “whoever has a litre of diesel in his home” to donate it.

The Turkish-Palestinian Hospital, Gaza’s only facility offering specialised treatment for cancer patients, was forced to shut down on Wednesday because of a lack of fuel, leaving 70 cancer patients in a critical situation, the Health Ministry said.

The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where many of those wounded were being treated as a result of Israeli air strikes on the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp that left hundreds dead and injured, was forced to turn off most lights and its mortuary refrigerators.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said: “If we cannot secure electricity or fuel then we will face a disaster.”

According to official data, 14 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals and 51 out of 72 primary care centres are no longer functioning.

The unfolding humanitarian crisis comes as Israeli troops continue their advance towards Gaza City.

Arab network Al Jazeera reported that five people were killed in an Israeli attack around a school administered by UNRWA located in the Al Shati camp, west of the Gaza Strip.

Peace campaigners worldwide have continued to call for an end to the illegal siege of Gaza and for a ceasefire in the fighting but United States President Joe Biden has instead suggested a humanitarian “pause.”

White House officials said a pause in fighting would allow more aid to be sent in and potentially facilitate the release of hostages.

This comes after an apparent agreement between the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, to allow hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of wounded to leave Gaza.

Israel has also allowed more than 260 lorries carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough.

Before October 7 more than 500 aid trucks a day were needed to supply the 2.5 million population of Gaza.

At least 335 foreign passport holders left on Wednesday and approximately another 100 left on Thursday, according to Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has previously ruled out a ceasefire, has made no response to the proposal for a pause.