More than 100 aid organisations on Wednesday warned that "mass starvation" is spreading across the Gaza Strip as Israel faces mounting international pressure over its aid blockade.
A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that "our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away". The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.
The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get aid since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its distribution centres in late May. The disputed group has sidelined the existing UN-led system of aid distribution.
More than 21 children have died of starvation and malnutrition, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday, as famine spreads across the enclave that has been by devastated by more than 21 months of Israeli bombardment and war.
In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as NGOs were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods.
Hundreds rally in New York City to protest over starvation in Gaza
"Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions," the signatories said.
"It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage."
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that the "horror" facing Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli military attacks was unprecedented in recent years.
Israel has denied the claims of large-scale starvation in the enclave, accusing Hamas of looting aid and blocking its distribution.
Israeli media quoted officials as saying that there were no issues with the aid reaching crossings and entering Gaza but that it had not been distributed.
According to the UN, Israel's restrictions and rejections of permits are the main reason for mounting aid stockpiles at the crossings. Convoys that do not co-ordinate with Israeli authorities or obtain the necessary permits come under deadly Israeli army fire.
Ceasefire talks
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha aimed at reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal since July 6. But after more than two weeks of back and forth efforts by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US, talks appear to be at a standstill.
The US said special envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Rome this week for talks on Gaza and may visit the Middle East after that.
Hamas negotiators are looking at the latest set of maps provided by their Israeli counterparts on its military's redeployment inside Gaza if a hostage and ceasefire deal is reached, sources told The National on Wednesday.
They said that along with the maps, the Israeli negotiators also handed mediators a timeline for the redeployment and identifying areas from which their military has no intention to relinquish. "The latest maps should show a change from previous ones given to Hamas to look at," said one of the sources.
"It's a question of distances now."
Besides the extension of Israel's proposed redeployment in Gaza, Israeli and Hamas negotiators are continuing to grapple over the number and identities of Palestinians held in Israel who will be released as part of a deal that envisages the freeing of 10 hostages and the remains of 18 others who died in captivity by Hamas, according to the sources.
Israel has yet to drop its opposition to the release of several high-profile Palestinian prisoners serving long jail terms, they said. The latest round of negotiations have made some progress on key issues but have stalled on others, with mediators striving to narrow differences to allow the 21-month-old war to pause.
