 "Gaza: Hunger deaths rise to 122, UN food aid says a third of Gazans starving for days")
Gaza is facing its worst humanitarian crisis, with the UN’s World Food Programme saying, “Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment.”
Warnings of starvation in Gaza have intensified this week. Nine more people died of malnutrition on Friday, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry - bringing the total such deaths since the war began to 122.
France and the UK have called on Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” into the territory. In a joint statement, the two countries said, “Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”
UN Chief Antonio Guterres said he could not “explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community - the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity”.
Trump asks Israel to ‘finish the job’
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has called on Israel to escalate its military conflict to “finish the job” against Hamas, days after withdrawing his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and other negotiators from ceasefire talks.
“I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad. It got to be to a point where you’re gonna have to finish the job,” Trump said, referring to Hamas, as he embarked on his four-day private visit to Scotland.
The president’s comments signal a shift in his tone from negotiation to war mongering as ceasefire talks failed earlier this week.
“They’re gonna have to fight and they’re gonna have to clean it up. You’re gonna have to get rid of ‘em,” Trump told Israel.
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View AllGaza truce talks
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire have reached an impasse, more than two weeks after they began.
A Hamas official on Friday accused US envoy Steve Witkoff of reneging on Washington’s positions and distorting reality after he announced the United States’ withdrawal from Gaza truce talks and accused the group of blocking a deal.
“The negative statements of the US envoy Witkoff run completely counter to the context in which the last negotiations were held, and he is perfectly aware of this, but they come to serve the Israeli position,” said Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim in an interview with AFP.
With inputs from agencies
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