Israel’s defence minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation, possibly just days away, even as famine continues to spread.
The United Nations on Friday formally declared a famine in Gaza — the first ever in the Middle East — warning that 500,000 people are facing “catastrophic” levels of hunger under what it described as Israel’s genocidal war.
Aid groups have long warned that Israel’s war and its five-month blockade on food and medical supplies are causing widespread starvation.
Hospitals across the besieged enclave report a surge in preventable deaths due to severe hunger, as Israel’s blockade — in place since March 2 — continues to block most humanitarian aid.
Israel has rejected the data-driven famine declaration as “an outright lie.” But doctors in Gaza say the evidence of deprivation is already clear.
Ceasefire efforts remain on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps.
Women and children struck and killed in tents
Israeli strikes killed at least 17 people in southern Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis.
“Awad, why did you leave me?” a small boy asked his brother's plastic-wrapped body.
Another grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.
“We want to rest,” Foujo said through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us."
In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where U.N. and other truck convoys enter the territory, health officials at Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said cameraman Khaled al-Madhoun was killed while covering events at the Zikim crossing, and asserted that he was targeted by Israeli troops. The local Palestine TV confirmed his death.
Eleven people were killed in attacks elsewhere, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
AP journalists have witnessed chaos on roads leading to aid deliveries, with near-daily reports of Israeli troops firing on aid-seekers. The Israeli military says it fires warning shots when people approach soldiers or pose a threat. However, troops operating in Gaza, speaking on condition of anonymity, have admitted to firing at will.
Braving gunfire and crowds for food
Mohamed Saada was among thousands seeking food in the Zikim area — and one of many who left empty-handed. He cited the “huge numbers of people,” the shootings and “trucks running over people.”
Some carried sacks of food like lentils and flour. Others carried the wounded, including on a wooden pallet. They navigated fetid puddles and the rubble of war as temperatures reached above 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius).
Friday's famine report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said nearly half a million people — about one-fourth of Gaza's population — face catastrophic hunger.
The rare pronouncement came after Israel imposed a five-month blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then resumed limited access in late May, focusing on a new U.S.-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israeli troops and U.S. contractors have regularly fired on aid-seekers at GHF distribution sites, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel has also allowed airdrops and new deliveries by land, but the U.N. and others say it's far from enough.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office maintains it has allowed sufficient aid into Gaza during the war, despite overwhelming evidence of famine.
An increase in Israeli airstrikes this month
With ground troops already active on Gaza City’s outskirts, a ground invasion that Israel downplays as an ‘operation’ could begin within days in an area crowded with hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said its clinics around Gaza City see high numbers of patients as people flee. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator there, noted a marked increase in airstrikes since early August.
“Those who have not moved are wondering what they should do,” she told the AP. “People want to stay, they have been displaced endlessly before, but they also know that at some point it will become very dangerous to remain.”
Ceasefire efforts await Israel's response
Many Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the 20 captives who are believed to have survived since 2023. Another 30 are thought to be dead as Israel has carpet bombed Gaza for 22 months. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested a week ago for a deal to end Israel's war and bring everyone home.
“Anyone who truly wants to bring the hostages home does not launch a ground invasion of Gaza,” Yotam Cohen, brother of captive Nimrod Cohen, said ahead of a weekly rally in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release captive and end the war on Israel’s terms. It was unclear if Israel would return to talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.
Hamas has said it will release captives in exchange for ending the war but rejects disarming without the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel has insisted on a limited 60-day truce followed by talks on a permanent end to the war. Hamas fears Israel could abandon such an agreement later, as it has done with previous ceasefires.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, telling reporters on Friday: “I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it."
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 62,622 Palestinians and injured more than 157,673 others, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. In the past 24 hours, eight more Palestinians, including children, have died from starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total number of famine-related deaths to 281, the ministry said.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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