The report, by a coalition of eight British-based human rights organisations, further said that unemployment in Gaza is close to 40 per cent, hospitals suffer from power cuts for up to 12 hours a day while water and sewerage systems are close to collapse.

The report follows international condemnation of Israel after it struck back against Palestinian militants in Gaza last week, killing more than 120 people, including many civilians.

The Israeli action came after the militants escalated their daily rocket attacks on Israel, killing 13 people and injuring dozens.

Israel's Defence Ministry rejected yesterday's report, blaming the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza for the hardships faced by its citizens.

'The main responsibility for events in Gaza - since the withdrawal of Israel from the territory and the uprooting of the settlements there - is the Hamas organisation, to which all complaints should be addressed,' read a statement by an Israeli spokesman, Major Peter Lerner.

The ministry also said medicines and medical equipment are shipped into Gaza with no limitation. However, the rights groups pressed for more to be done.

'Israel has the right and obligation to protect its citizens, but as the occupying power in Gaza, it also has a legal duty to ensure that Gazans have access to food, clean water, electricity and medical care,' said Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen, one of the groups behind the report.

'Punishing the entire Gazan population by denying them these basic human rights is utterly indefensible.'

The 16-page report - sponsored by Amnesty, along with Care International UK, Cafod, Christian Aid, Medecins du Monde UK, Oxfam, Save the Children UK and Trocaire - calls on the British government to exert more pressure on Israel, and to reverse its policy on non-negotiation with Hamas.

The groups call Israel the occupier since it still controls land, sea and air access to Gaza despite removing settlements and withdrawing forces in 2005.

Israel has closed its crossing after Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, and allows only vital goods into the region.

Yesterday the militants blew up an Israeli army jeep near the border, killing at least one soldier.

Meanwhile, NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog, has called on human rights groups to end what it called their political use of international law.

'NGOs and human rights groups must end their irresponsible and immoral use of legal rhetoric,' said Mr Gerald Steinberg, executive director of NGO Monitor, recently.

ASSOCIATED PRESS