Israel-Hamas war: 'Vast amounts of aid needed to stave off catastrophic health crisis in Gaza,' UN warns
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher made the remarks as Israel began limited pauses in fighting across three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day to address the worsening humanitarian situation.
Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza's population from the start of March. It then reopened aid centres with new restrictions in May, but said the supply had to be controlled to prevent it from being stolen by Hamas militants.
On Saturday, reports referencing US government data said there was no evidence Hamas had stolen aid from UN agencies.
Images of emaciated Palestinian children have led to widespread criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza, including by allies who are calling for an end to the war.
Mr Fletcher said one in three people in Gaza "hasn't eaten for days" and "children are wasting away".
He added: "We welcome Israel's decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys.
"Some movement restrictions appear to have been eased today, with initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads were collected.
"This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis. Across the UN agencies and humanitarian community, we are mobilised to save as many lives as we can."
The Israel Defence Forces said yesterday that it is halting military operations in Muwasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza City daily from 10am to 8pm local time (8am to 6pm UK time) until further notice.
Combat operations have continued outside of this 10-hour window. Health officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 41 Palestinians overnight into Sunday morning, including 26 seeking aid.
In a statement, the IDF said it would also establish secure routes to help the UN and aid agencies deliver food and other supplies.
Israel's announcement of what it calls a "tactical pause" in fighting comes after it resumed airdrops of aid into Gaza.
While the IDF reiterated claims there is "no starvation" in the territory, it said the airdrops would include "seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food to be provided by international organisations".
Palestinian sources confirmed that aid had begun dropping in northern parts of the territory.
Sabreen Hasson, a Palestinian mother who travelled to an aid point near the Zikim crossing to collect supplies, said: "I came to get flour for my children because they have not tasted flour for more than a week, and thank God, God provided me with a kilo of rice with difficulty."
But Samira Yahda, who was in Zawaida in central Gaza, said: "We saw the planes, but we didn't see what they dropped... they said trucks would pass, but we didn't see the trucks."
Another Palestinian told the AP news agency that some people feared going out and having a box of aid fall on their children.
1:19
Gaza is expected to be a focus during talks Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump in Scotland today.
Downing Street said Sir Keir will raise "what more can be done to secure the ceasefire [in the Middle East] urgently", during the meeting at the US president's Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire.
Reports also suggest the prime minister is planning to interrupt the summer recess and recall his cabinet to discuss the crisis on Tuesday.
Talks in Qatar over a ceasefire ended on Thursday after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams.
2:02
Mr Trump blamed Hamas for the collapse of negotiations as he left the US for Scotland, saying the militant group "didn't want to make a deal... they want to die".
Meanwhile the exiled head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al Hayya, has warned ceasefire negotiations with Israel were "meaningless under continued blockade and starvation".
In a recorded speech, he added: "The immediate and dignified delivery of food and medicine to our people is the only serious and genuine indication of whether continuing the negotiations is worthwhile."
0:51
During a meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, Mr Trump emphasised the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
He said: "They don't want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision.
1:17
"I know what I'd do, but I don't think it's appropriate that I say it. But Israel is going to have to make a decision," he said.
Mr Trump also repeated claims, without evidence, that Hamas was stealing food coming into Gaza and selling it.
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Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Famine is 'playing out' in Gaza, warns global hunger monitor
UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA, July 29 (Reuters) - Famine is "playing out" in the Gaza Strip, a global hunger monitor said in an alert issued on Tuesday as international criticism of Israel intensifies over rapidly worsening conditions in the Palestinian enclave. "The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths." The IPC alert does not formally classify Gaza as being in famine. Such a classification can only be made through an analysis, which the IPC said it would now conduct "without delay." The IPC is a global initiative that partners with 21 aid groups, international organizations, and U.N. agencies, and assesses the extent of hunger suffered by a population. War has raged in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas for the past 22 months. Facing global condemnation over the humanitarian crisis, Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of the Palestinian enclave and allow new aid corridors. For an area to be classified as in famine, at least 20% of people must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease. "Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering," the IPC alert said. The latest data indicated that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the war-torn Palestinian enclave - where some 2.1 million people remain - and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City, the alert said. "Formal famine declarations always lag reality," David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee aid group, said in a statement ahead of the IPC alert. "By the time that famine was declared in Somalia in 2011, 250,000 people - half of them children under 5 - had already died of hunger. By the time famine is declared, it will already be too late," he said. The IPC has classified areas as being in famine four times: Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and Sudan in 2024. The IPC says it does not declare famine, but instead provides an analysis to allow governments and others to do so. The IPC's independent Famine Review Committee - which vets and verifies IPC findings that warn of or identify a famine - endorsed the Gaza alert on Tuesday. The last IPC analysis on Gaza, issued on May 12, forecast that the entire population would likely experience high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of September, with 469,500 people projected to likely hit "catastrophic" levels. "Many of the risk factors identified in that report have continued to deteriorate," the Famine Review Committee said in the alert on Tuesday. "Although the extreme lack of humanitarian access hinders comprehensive data collection, it is clear from available evidence that starvation, malnutrition, and mortality are rapidly accelerating." Israel controls all access to Gaza. After an 11-week blockade, limited U.N.-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - backed by Israel and the United States - began distributing food aid. The rival aid efforts have sparked a war of words - pitting Israel, the U.S. and the GHF against the U.N., international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of mass aid diversion in Gaza by Hamas. The IPC alert said 88% of Gaza is under evacuation orders or within militarized areas. "People's access to food across Gaza is now alarmingly erratic and extremely perilous," it said. The IPC and the Famine Review Committee were both critical of the GHF efforts in the alert issued on Tuesday. The IPC said most of the GHF "food items are not ready-to-eat and require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable." The Famine Review Committee said: "Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation." The GHF says it has been able to transport aid into Gaza without any being stolen by Hamas and that it has so far distributed more than 96 million meals. The IPC alert said an estimated minimum of 62,000 metric tonnes of staple food is required every month to cover the basic food needs of the Gazan population. But it said that according lk;;m;.;lkl;' to COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, only 19,900 MT of food entered Gaza in May and 37,800 MT in June. The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Gazans are starving. Amal Nassar's family are among them
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