Israel / Palestine

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, as the military pressed a newly intensified campaign in the war-ravaged territory. After Israel announced it would let limited aid into Gaza, the head of the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the territory, saying that “two million people are starving.”

The United Nations has said it will not take part in a US-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza because it is not impartial, neutral or independent, as Israel pledged to facilitate the effort without being involved in aid deliveries. … Speaking to reporters in Antalya, Turkiye, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday acknowledged the criticisms and said Washington was open to any alternative plan to get aid to civilians “without Hamas being able to steal it”.

[…] Nothing has entered Gaza for more than 10 weeks, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced and the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Strip face the risk of famine. 

A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza. “There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim told AFP.

The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN said on Tuesday.

The UN Secretary-General is alarmed by reports of Israeli plans to expand ground operations and prolong its military presence in Gaza, a spokesperson for António Guterres said on Monday.

The UN Secretary-General has warned that the two-State solution for Israel and Palestine is nearing collapse, urging world leaders to take bold, irreversible steps to preserve hopes for lasting peace.

The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has begun hearings for an opinion on Israel's legal duty to allow aid to Palestinians and to co-operate with the UN's Palestinian aid agency, Unrwa – both of which Israel has barred in Gaza.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels, with more than two million people – mostly women and children – trapped, starving and desperate, as no aid has been allowed in for the past 50 days. The UN relief coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday that this marks the longest period without aid or commercial supplies entering the Strip since the conflict began in October 2023.

Hamas has formally rejected Israel's latest ceasefire offer, saying it is prepared to immediately negotiate a deal that would see the release of all remaining hostages in return for an end to the war and the release of Palestinian prisoners.