The Japan Times - UN warns all of Gaza at risk of famine

Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March following a short-lived truce.

Israel recently intensified its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, drawing global condemnation over the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Recent AFPTV footage has shown chaotic scenes as large crowds of Palestinians desperate for food rushed to a limited number of aid distribution centres to pick up supplies.

"Gaza is the hungriest place on earth," Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said on Friday.

"It's the only defined area -- a country or defined territory within a country -- where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred percent of the population at risk of famine."

- Limited aid -

Laerke said 900 UN aid trucks had been authorised by Israel to enter so far, but only 600 had been offloaded on the Gaza side of the border, and an even smaller number had been picked up there due to security considerations.

Laerke described the "limited number of truckloads" as "drip-feeding food".

Adding to the international pressure, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should "harden the collective position" against Israel if it did not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Action was needed "in the next few hours and days", he added.

The White House announced Thursday that Israel had "signed off" on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, while stopping short of rejecting it outright.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Telegram post Friday, said that "after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again -- there are no more excuses".

"The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end," he added. "It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one."

Gaza's civil defence agency told AFP that at least 22 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the north.

Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.

"These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes. The house was destroyed due to the indiscriminate bombardment," said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing "children in pieces".

"Stop the war!" said Mahmud Nasr, who lost relatives. "We do not want anything from you, just stop the war."

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jabalia strike, but said separately that the air force had "struck dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip" over the past day.

- Truce proposal -

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had "submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed".

Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.

Hamas sources said last week that the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant "the continuation of killing and famine... and does not meet any of our people's demands, foremost among them halting the war".

"Nonetheless, the movement's leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility," he added.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that discussions were "continuing" with the militants.

Naim on Friday reiterated that a review was ongoing, while a source close to Hamas said one of the group's main concerns was the lack of American guarantees that talks towards a permanent ceasefire would continue.

According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the next week.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

As of Thursday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed major operations on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.

Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

K.Yamaguchi--JT