Gaza strikes kill 120 as Hamas says aid entry ‘minimum requirement' for talks
For weeks, UN agencies have warned that supplies of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines are reaching new lows.
The World Health Organisation said the last hospital in Gaza providing cancer and cardiac care had stopped functioning after an Israeli attack on Tuesday left it 'severely damaged and inaccessible'.
UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of 'killing what's left of humanity'.
AFPTV footage from the aftermath of a strike on Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory showed flattened buildings and piles of concrete rubble.
'We pray for this war to end, and we appeal to all international institutions to end the war because enough is enough,' said Gaza resident Maher Ghanem, his arm in a sling.
Gaza not 'for sale'
Following the latest deaths, Hamas called on the international community to hold Israel to account for what it described as a 'barbaric escalation'.
Israel says its aid stoppage and military pressure are meant to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized during the October 2023 attack that triggered the war.
But senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the entry of aid into Gaza was 'the minimum requirement for a conducive and constructive negotiation environment'.
'Access to food, water, and medicine is a fundamental human right – not a subject for negotiation,' he added.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.
But the United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with the initiative.
'As we've stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,' UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the criticism of the plan and said Washington was 'open to an alternative if someone has a better one'.
Trump said he wanted the United States to 'get involved' in Gaza.
'I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good... let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,' he said on the Qatar leg of a Gulf tour, adding he would be 'proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone'.
The comments echoed a widely condemned idea he floated in February for the United States to 'take over' the devastated territory and redevelop it into 'the Riviera of the Middle East'.
Hamas official Naim said 'Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land – it is not real estate for sale on the open market'.
The United Nations estimates that 70% of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 2876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,010.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
West Bank raids
In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, raids were ongoing and roads blocked after Israel's military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman.
WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the territory were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.
In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.
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Gaza: UN Rights Chief Condemns New Killings Around Private Aid Hub
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Access calls denied The controversial new aid initiative run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation bypasses the work of UN aid agencies which have repeatedly appealed for unimpeded access to Gaza in order to bring in thousands of tonnes of supplies. To date, the little aid that has been allowed into the enclave has fallen far short of what is needed. In an update, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) insisted that it still had 'teams on the ground' in Gaza ready to distribute supplies where they are needed across the war-torn enclave, if only they could be allowed to move. 'We have right now 51 trucks waiting loaded with medical supplies to go to those few hospitals that are still functional,' said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. 'We need access so that we can bring in supplies within Gaza to health facilities so they can function. Unfortunately, what is happening is just the opposite. There is no hospital in north Gaza functional anymore.' On Monday, Mr. Jasarevic said that a WHO team went to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza 'and basically evacuated all remaining patients and medical staff…now that hospital is completely empty'. In Jabalia, also in northern Gaza, three Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed on Monday when their vehicle struck an explosive device. Most vulnerable miss out Critics of the US-Israeli scheme - which include the UN - have warned that it prevents children, the elderly and those with disabilities from receiving aid, since recipients often have to walk long distances to retrieve boxes of supplies distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. 'The wilful impediment of access to food and other life-sustaining relief supplies for civilians may constitute a war crime,' Mr. Türk said. His lengthy statement also condemned 'the threat of starvation' faced by Gazans today, the '20 months of killing of civilians and destruction on a massive scale'. Gazans have also been repeatedly displaced by evacuation orders from the Israeli military and faced 'intolerable, dehumanizing rhetoric and threats by Israel's leadership to empty the Strip', the UN rights chief noted. All of these facts constitute elements of the most serious crimes under international law, he insisted. 'Am I going to get shot?' Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, highlighted the High Commissioner's call for a prompt, independent investigation into the dozens of reported killings in Gaza since the new aid hub opened on 27 May. 'I think there's so much which has happened in the past three days apart from the tragic circumstances of human beings trying to gather food to survive and then being killed in the process,' he told journalists in Geneva. '[Gazans] are being forced to walk to these centres and now they're terrified. Probably they go there and they're thinking, 'Am I going to get food or am I going to get shot? '' Mr. Laurence noted multiple media reports on killings around the southern Gaza aid hub in recent days indicating engagement by helicopters, naval vessels, tanks and ground troops. 'We are aware of those reports,' he said, noting that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had also published an account on X of what had happened on Tuesday. 'My colleagues who are working on the ground have conducted interviews with witnesses and they do report fire from the IDF on those trying to access the food distribution centres. We've received reports from other organizations on the ground to a similar effect.' He added: 'We've gathered our own information; we've spoken to witnesses on the ground who have shared what they have seen, heard and felt themselves.' Asked to explain what the High Commissioner meant when he expressed concerns that the 'most serious crimes under international law' may have been committed, Mr. Laurence explained that this referred to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Young lives in danger Meanwhile, humanitarians report a sharp rise in child labour and early marriage in Gaza, as well as family separation – all driven by hunger, displacement and economic turmoil. 'Children are increasingly exposed to violence and exploitation during chaotic distributions of basic supplies – including in crowds, when people take flour directly from trucks,' said Mr. Dujarric, the UN Spokesperson, noting that children with disabilities are often the worst affected. Israel also issued another displacement order on Monday covering four neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, affecting some 45,000 people. Aid 'still just a trickle' Mr. Dujarric said the UN and partners continue to make the most of the limited opening for aid delivery which began last month following nearly 80 days of blockade. 'But as we've said before, what's coming in – and if it does come in - is still just a trickle and does not meet the immense needs on the ground,' he remarked. 'We have enough supplies lined up and ready, close to Gaza. But only limited amounts are actually reaching the people who need them, and that's because of conditions on the ground.' In particular, the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA warns of bottlenecks in the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the only one Israel allows for aid into Gaza. He said that since 17 May, only half of the pre-cleared supplies submitted for a second and final clearance by Israel has made it through to the Palestinian side of the crossing. 'In total, the UN and our partners submitted over 1,200 pre-cleared truckloads for final Israeli clearance,' he said. Just over 920 truckloads were approved and some 620 have made it to the Palestinian side. Of the supplies scanned in Kerem Shalom - which include flour as well as medical and nutrition items - UN teams have managed to collect about 370 truckloads and bring them inside Gaza. Mr. Dujarric explained that access to the crossing 'requires driving through militarized zones where bombings are continuing' and UN teams have to follow routes that are approved by the Israeli authorities. 'Yesterday, 10 of 13 attempts to coordinate such movements were rejected. And those included the collection of supplies from Kerem Shalom, but also other life-saving operations such as trucking water to North Gaza or relocating fuel stocks to where they are needed,' he said.
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Suspect in Colorado fire attack on Jewish protest faces 118 counts
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