Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Food insecurity in northern Gaza has reached “catastrophic” levels and Israel’s closure of the Rafah border crossing in the south has further cut supplies at a critical time, a US official said on Thursday.
He was speaking as the Pentagon announced the completion of an emergency aid pier.
“Across Gaza, 2.2 million people – the entire population – are facing acute food insecurity,” said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAid’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
"More than half of the population in the north is at catastrophic levels. In the past two weeks, we have seen a vital border crossing close and a supply decline at a time when it is critical … we need to have everything open, all routes open.”
Ms Korde was speaking alongside Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, who said international aid would be delivered on a temporary pier attached to a Gaza beach within days.
“Just a few hours ago, the pier was successfully affixed to the beach in Gaza,” Vice Admiral Cooper said.
“As we sit here now, we have about 500 tonnes of humanitarian assistance, loaded on ships."
He said the aid would be delivered in the “next couple of days”.
UN agencies have warned, however, that the planned maritime aid corridor, along with aid drops from planes, cannot replace far more efficient lorry deliveries.
Israel, which seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt last week, has restricted aid flows into Gaza as it fights against Hamas in the enclave.
Security for the temporary aid pier will be provided by Israel.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said there were no indications that Hamas was planning to attack it.
"But should there be attacks either towards the maritime humanitarian corridor or around the marshalling area, that is going to directly affect Palestinian people, the people that need this aid the most," Ms Singh said.
US President Joe Biden's administration announced in March that it would establish the pier as part of efforts to ease Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
The pier forms part of a US military system called Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLots, which was used in military operations during the 1991 Gulf War, and in humanitarian disasters in which ports have been destroyed, such as the Haiti earthquake.
In his State of the Union speech in March, Mr Biden laid blame for the deteriorating situation on Israel, saying that “humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip”.
The UN World Food Programme said in a post on X on Thursday that the threat of famine has “never loomed larger”, and that stocks of fuel and food would run out in days.
Civilians ordered to flee eastern Rafah as Israel begins invasion – in pictures
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Indika
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A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
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Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
