Aid groups warn Gaza faces famine as Israeli blockade creates ‘chaos, starvation and death'
Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and offensive, launched in response to Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023.
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Gaza is 'witnessing a deadly surge' in malnutrition and related diseases and that a 'large proportion' of its roughly two million people are starving.
Israel says it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery efforts by UN agencies, which say they are hindered by Israeli restrictions.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 50 hostages it holds, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel has vowed to recover all the captives and continue the war until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
The groups said they were watching their colleagues 'waste away'
In an open letter, 115 organisations, including international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'.
The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and 'massacres' at aid distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the UN human rights office have said Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel said its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.
The Israeli government's 'restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death', the letter said.
WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that criticism, telling reporters that acute malnutrition centres in Gaza are full of patients and lack adequate supplies.
He said rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10pc and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20pc are malnourished, often severely.
The UN health agency's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, said there were more than 30,000 children under five years old with acute malnutrition in Gaza, and the WHO had reports that at least 21 children under five have died so far this year.
The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the criticism in the open letter and accused the groups of 'echoing Hamas's propaganda'.
It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks into Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN.
That is an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN said are needed, and which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year.
The UN said it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, continuing fighting and a breakdown of law and order.
An official familiar with ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas said Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was travelling to Rome to meet Mr Witkoff today to discuss the state of the talks.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the negotiations.
Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant
The evolving deal is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
Strikes overnight and into yesterday killed at least 21 people, more than half of them women and children, according to local health officials.
One of the strikes hit a house in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Al-Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant, and that the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties.
Another strike hit an apartment in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said.
A third strike hit a tent in Gaza City late on Tuesday and killed three children, Al-Shifa Hospital said.
There was no immediate comment from the military on those strikes.
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