Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza last month after a sharp rise in rocket attacks by militants based there.

The restrictions prompted militants from the Islamist movement Hamas,
which controls Gaza, to blast holes in the border with Egypt on 23
January.

The breaches were sealed by Egyptian security forces
only on 3 February, by which time hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
had taken the opportunity to cross into Egypt and obtain essential
supplies.

As part of a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories,
Mr Holmes toured the Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, and
the Karni industrial zone near the closed cargo crossing on the Israeli
border.

“I have been shocked by the grim and miserable things I
have seen and heard about during the day,” he told reporters at the
main UN compound in Gaza City.

“[They] are the result of the current restrictions on the crossings
into Gaza, and the very limited amounts of foods and other materials
being allowed in.”

Mr Holmes, who is also the UN’s emergency relief
co-ordinator, said the level of goods entering Gaza had dropped to 10%
of what it was a year ago.

He said the Israeli restrictions had led to the
collapse of the territory’s economy, which in turn caused widespread
unemployment and poverty. As a result, some 80% of Gazans now depended
on food aid, he added.

“All this makes for a grim human and humanitarian
situation here in Gaza, which means that people are not able to live
with the basic dignity to which they are entitled,” he said.

“So what is essentially needed is an opening of the crossings, a lot more goods coming in.”