Gaza, Feb 10 (IANS): The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has said that Israel has rejected half of the aid requests submitted by the agency for the northern Gaza Strip.

UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday in a statement that "since the beginning of the year, half of the aid requests we submitted to the north have been rejected".

The United Nations has identified deep areas of famine and hunger in the northern Gaza Strip, where people are believed to be on the brink of starvation, according to Lazzarini.

He mentioned that nearly 300,000 people in the north rely on the agency's aid to survive, noting that access to life-saving humanitarian aid is being blocked, Xinhua news agency reported.

Flour and its derivatives, rice, and canned goods have been depleted amid the continued siege and prevention of food, water, and nutrition from entering by Israel, according to the Gaza-based government media office.

The office said in a statement that the residents of those areas were forced by the occupation to grind animal feed and grains instead of the missing wheat and are now facing real famine amid the ongoing aggression.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 27,947, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Friday.