The UK has been involved in previous efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza – a method aid agencies have cautioned is an inefficient way to deliver supplies.

The previous Conservative government struck a deal with Jordan to deliver aid by air in 2024. Tonnes of supplies including medicines, food and fuel were dropped into northern Gaza by parachute from Jordanian Air Force planes.

The same year the Royal Air Force began conducting air drops directly. The RAF went on to deliver over 100 tonnes of food over the course of 11 flights between March and May, according to the government.

Israeli media reported that the United Arab Emirates and Jordan would carry out the latest drops, but a senior Jordanian official told the BBC that its military was yet to receive permission from Israel to do so.

The UN has described the move as a"distraction to inaction" by the Israeli government.

Its food aid programme warned that almost one in three people in Gaza are going for days without eating.

"Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment," the World Food Programme said in a statement.

Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into the Palestinian territory, has repeatedly said that there is no siege and blames Hamas for cases of malnutrition.

Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, two children with serious health conditions have been brought to the UK for private medical treatment.

The young girls were granted temporary visas, arriving in the UK in May from Egypt with the assistance of Project Pure Hope, a humanitarian healthcare initiative.