Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is turning 90, still holding authoritarian power in tiny pockets of the West Bank, but marginalised and weakened by Israel, deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and struggling for a say in a post-war Gaza Strip.

The world's second-oldest serving president - after Cameroon's 92-year-old Paul Biya - Abbas has been in office for 20 years and for almost the entire time has failed to hold elections.

His weakness has left Palestinians leaderless, critics say, at a time when they face an existential crisis and hopes for establishing a Palestinian state, the centrepiece of Abbas's agenda, appear dimmer than ever.

Palestinians say Israel's campaign against Hamas, which has decimated Gaza, amounts to genocide.

Israel denies the accusation and has tightened its

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