A WHO senior official said he'd received letters from doctors in the northern region who had run out of basic treatments for illnesses such as diabetes.

The head of the organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus - who is from Tigray - said the region's population of seven million had been under siege for more than a year.

He said this had created a "hell" in the region and was an "insult to our humanity to allow a situation like this to continue".

"Nowhere in the world are we witnessing hell like in Tigray," he said.