People stand outside their tent set up on the rubble of a destroyed building at the Jabalia camp for displaced Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
"The international community is required to intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.
The Palestinian resistance group on Thursday signalled its rejection of Israel's latest proposal which excluded a "comprehensive" deal to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, now in its 18th month.
The appeal from Hamas comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials.
The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza, which has a population of about 2.4 million, is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.
"The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half.
Medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply, the UN has specified.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, without elaborating on what amounts to mass starvation and collective punishment of Gaza’s inhabitants.
A Hamas source told AFP that the group sent a written response Thursday to mediators on Israel's latest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire.
It also called for the freeing of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
Short link: