At least 91 killed seeking aid in Gaza as US envoy Steve Witkoff visits Israel
On Wednesday night, crowds of hungry people had gathered at the Zikim crossing with Israel, waiting for trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to enter the besieged strip, when they were shot. Al-Saraya field hospital said it had received more than 100 dead and wounded after the shooting, while the death toll was expected to rise, the Associated Press reported.
On Thursday morning, 19 people seeking aid were killed by Israeli soldiers outside aid distribution points in the central Gaza Strip and in Rafah in south Gaza.
Gaza is in the throes of famine, according to the international authority on food insecurity. Seven children died of hunger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of malnutrition deaths to 154, the Gaza health authority said.
'Dying of starvation is slow and painful,' the World Health Organization said in a statement on Thursday. 'A starving child, among the most vulnerable, might cry constantly from pain until becoming too weak to even do that. If not urgently treated, a child with acute malnutrition will die.'
The UN agency added that it would take 'months, if not years' to reverse what it called a 'man-made tragedy'.
As Gaza's famine has deepened, social order has broken down. It is common for crowds of hundreds of desperate people to wait for the rare aid truck to enter Gaza and to loot the vehicle once it arrives.
More than 1,000 people have been shot, primarily by Israeli soldiers, while trying to get food from the private US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and while waiting for aid trucks by border crossings.
The UN has said the key to stopping the looting of aid is to reassure the population that a constant, adequate supply will enter Gaza. Israel controls aid crossings into Gaza and has been accused of creating the hunger crisis through its blockades of humanitarian supplies – something it denies, alongside its rejection that there is starvation in Gaza.
Israel recently expanded aid access into Gaza, but humanitarians have said the new measures will not reverse the starvation crisis and have called for urgent, unfettered aid access into Gaza.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said on Wednesday that the amount of food being brought into Gaza was 'far from enough'.
The foreign minister of Cyprus announced on Thursday that his country was working to reactivate a sea route to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza. Cyprus had previously helped deliver about 2,200 tonnes of aid to Gaza last year, before several incidents stopped the route altogether.
Constantinos Kombos said more planning was needed before reopening the sea corridor. He called the situation in Gaza 'unacceptable, unbearable' and said aid must be let into the territory 'so that it has tangible, visible outcomes immediately'.
As the hunger crisis worsened, Witkoff landed in Israel, where he met the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli media reported that they discussed the flagging ceasefire talks and the White House later announced that Witkoff and the US ambassador, Mike Huckabee, would travel to Gaza on Friday 'to inspect the current [food] distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear first-hand about this dire situation on the ground'.
Israel sent a response on Wednesday to Hamas's latest ceasefire plan, which proposed a 60-day pause in fighting and a hostage-prisoner exchange.
The US president, Donald Trump, called on Hamas to surrender and release the remaining Israeli hostages. The group holds about 50 captives, 20 of whom are believed to be living.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: 'The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!'
Trump had suggested on Wednesday that the US would partner with Israel to run new food distribution points in Gaza, but has given few details about what this plan would look like. The GHF has the backing of the Trump administration and is chaired by an associate of Trump, but it was not clear whether the US would work through the private initiative.
Israel has come under huge international pressure as images of starving people have prompted an outcry. More than a dozen countries have condemned Israel for its conduct in Gaza and taken steps to recognise the Palestinian state – a largely symbolic move.
Several countries, including Canada, said they would move toward recognising a Palestinian state in September. Canada's recognition would be contingent on some changes within the Palestinian Authority, Mark Carney, the prime minister, said.
Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said before a visit to Israel on Thursday that recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of talks on a two-state solution, but said Berlin would respond to any unilateral actions, after citing 'annexation threats' by some Israeli ministers.
On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed a partial suspension of Israel from its most prestigious science research programme over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israel has condemned the international censure of its actions in Gaza and moves to recognise the Palestinian state, which it says are in service of Hamas.
The past week, however, has brought the sharpest rebukes of Israel from the international community since the war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023. It has put more pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza or face more international isolation.
Last week, ceasefire talks seemed to completely stall after Israel and the US withdrew their negotiators from Doha, where talks were being held. Both parties blamed Hamas for the collapse, saying the group had introduced new demands late in the talks – a claim Hamas denied.
Israeli officials have warned that if Hamas does not become more flexible with its demands, Israel will reimpose a tight siege on humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to the country's public broadcaster, Kan. The broadcaster said that the military proposed expanding its ground operations in the territory to put pressure on Hamas to make concessions in negotiations.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed about 1,200 people. More than 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's military operation and much of the territory has been destroyed.
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13 hours ago
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