
'Our children are dying slowly' says father searching for food in Gaza
Small children, squashed at the front, are in tears. One of them holds up a plastic basin hoping for some ladles of soup. Mr Haw pushes forward in the scrum until he receives his share.
He does this every day because he fears his children are starving. He sets out through the ruins of Jabalia in northern Gaza in search of food, waiting in panicked crowds for up to six hours to get barely enough to feed his family.
Some days he gets lucky and can find lentil soup. Other days he returns empty-handed.
"I have a sick daughter. I can't provide her with anything. There is no bread, there is nothing," said the 39-year-old.
"I'm here since eight in the morning, just to get one plate for six people while it is not enough for one person."
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March, prompting international experts to warn of looming famine in the besieged territory that is home to 2.3 million people.
Some trucks were allowed to enter Gaza on Monday, after Israel agreed to allow limited humanitarian deliveries to resume following mounting international pressure. But by last night, the United Nations said no aid had been distributed.
And as well as aid shortages, fighting in Gaza has intensified. Last week the Israeli military announced the start of a major new operation against militant group Hamas.
Medics in the territory say Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days.
Israel denies that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. It has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Hamas militants from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so and accuses Israel of using starvation as a military tactic.
Gazans like Mr Haw, living in the epicentre of the war that is now in its 20th month, have no voice in the debate.
His world consists of walking to food kitchens each day, through the destruction wrought by Israeli bombardments in the war that was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Even before the war - fought intensively around the family home in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City - Mr Haw's family had its struggles. His niece, who lives with them, uses a wheelchair.
His daughter has heart disease and bronchial asthma, he says.
Mr Haw climbs the stairs to his one-room apartment, where his children wait, sitting on a mattress. There is no surprise about what he has brought home - soup again.
He puts the soup in small tin bowls and hands them to his four children and his brother's two children.
The children, quiet, eat slowly and carefully.
"Thank God, as you can see, this is breakfast, lunch and dinner, thank God," he said. The day before, he said, his family had had nothing to eat.
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But the Saudi foreign minister made it clear this week that there would be no negotiation on the matter, without an end to the war and the establishment of a Palestinian State. The Saudis certainly have a good deal of leverage in Washington. But then, so does Mr Netanyahu. Some experts remain sceptical that the shift in mood will yield any real change. "I think we've reached a turning point in terms of perceptions of the war, and I think a tipping point in the coverage of the catastrophe," Michael Hanna, US Programme Director at the International Crisis Group, an NGO aimed at conflict prevention. "I'm not yet sure that that is going to fully translate into a change in policy," he added. He said there was always a gulf between public opinion and the political class in the US. "That gap is shrinking in some respects - we see a rise in criticism," he said. "Again, criticism is not the same as policy shift". Ms Greene, for example, was largely alone in Congress on the Republican side, he said. Indeed, while the week started with Mr Trump sympathising with the plight of hungry Palestinians, by Thursday, he was issuing barely veiled threats against Canada over its intention to recognise a Palestinian State. The State Department also announced sanctions against the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organisation on Thursday, which means members will be unable to travel to the US for the UN General Assembly in September. As for diplomatic isolation at the UN, that is something the US is prepared to bear, Mr Hanna told RTÉ News. "It is notable when the isolation also encompasses other Western members of the permanent five, UK and France, so maybe it's magnified isolation. "But the US has been willing to endure that isolation for a very long time, so it's not clear that that is particularly uncomfortable," he said. A lot hinges on President Trump's own views of course, and it is anyone's guess what he will decide next. His approach to the Middle East has been "all over the map," Mr Hanna said. There have been moments of tension between Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu, he added. "There were direct contacts with Hamas, which I think shocked the Israelis," he said, "then the U-turn on the Yemen campaign". Mr Trump abruptly declared an end to the bombing of Houthi rebel group positions in May. "And then, of course, then another big shift on intervention in Iran," he said in reference to the US joining Israel's bombing campaign of Iran's nuclear sites in a surprise move in June. The flip-flopping continued this week, when President Trump initially said he had "no view" on the matter, when the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK's intention to recognise the State of Palestine. But within hours, Mr Trump had labelled recognition "a reward for Hamas". Amid all the rhetoric and noise, Mr Hanna said, the point is that there is "still no ceasefire in Gaza".