Open this photo in gallery: People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on July 22, after receiving humanitarian aid from a distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since May while trying to get food, mostly in the vicinity of aid sites.OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/Getty Images

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly in the vicinity of aid sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, the United Nations human rights office said Tuesday. Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials.

Desperation is mounting in the territory of more than two million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and ongoing 21-month offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.

Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. It did not provide precise diagnoses, but people in hunger crises often die from a combination of malnutrition, illness and deprivation.

Israel eased a two-and-a-half-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding UN-run system and the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, an American contractor. Aid groups say it’s not nearly enough.

Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid — without providing evidence of widespread diversion — and blames UN agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in.

In a statement, GHF rejected what it said were “false and exaggerated statistics” from the UN, saying the deadliest incidents have been linked to UN aid convoys.

Open this photo in gallery: Palestinian children wait for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22. 1,054 people were killed while trying to get food since late May.-/AFP/Getty Images

Over 1,000 killed seeking food

Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Israeli- and U.S.-backed GHF, according to the UN human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around UN convoys or aid sites.

Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN rights office, says its figures come from “multiple reliable sources on the ground,” including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office’s strict methodology.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes.

The UN has refused to work with the GHF, saying its model violates humanitarian principles and puts lives at risk.

A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned countries on Monday condemned the “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”

Canada, 24 other nations urge Israel to end war in Gaza, condemn ‘drip feeding of aid’

85 Palestinians killed while waiting for aid across Gaza, health ministry says

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. “The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”

Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the fighting.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.

Open this photo in gallery: Palestinians carry aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, in May.HATEM KHALED/Reuters

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office OCHA, told reporters on Tuesday that claims that the UN has stopped working are “manifestly incorrect.”

The GHF also claimed that the “deadliest attacks” on aid distribution in Gaza have been linked to UN convoys.

At least 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for UN aid trucks in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people.

The UN said on July 15 it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the GHF and convoys run by other relief groups. The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and COGAT, the Israeli military aid co-ordination agency, were not immediately available for comment.

Staff and doctors fainting from hunger, exhaustion in Gaza, UNRWA head says

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said it had received dozens of emergency messages from its staff describing grave conditions and exhaustion in the enclave, where Israel has been fighting a war against Hamas since October 2023.

“No one is spared: caretakers in Gaza are also in need of care. Doctors, nurses, journalists and humanitarians are hungry,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement, shared by his spokesperson at a press briefing in Geneva.

“Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties: reporting atrocities or alleviating some of the suffering.”

Fifteen Palestinians die of starvation, medics say

A six-week-old infant was among 15 people who have died of starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, with malnutrition now killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war. The infant died at a hospital ward in northern Gaza, the health officials said, naming him as Yousef al-Safadi.

Three of the others were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. The other two children were not named.

Palestinian health officials say at least 101 people have died of hunger during the conflict, including 80 children, with most of them in recent weeks.

Open this photo in gallery: People transport a man, wounded as he waited for humanitarian aid, along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on June 22, after trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the northern Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing.OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/Getty Images

Israeli strikes kill at least 25

Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people across Gaza on Tuesday, according to local health officials, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in the central city of Deir al-Balah, an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting.

One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said it was not aware of such a strike by its forces.

The dead included three women and three children, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of the hospital told The Associated Press. 38 other Palestinians were wounded, he said.

The strike tore apart tents and left some of the dead lying on the ground, according to footage shared by the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.

An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after ending an earlier ceasefire. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

With files from Reuters

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the terror group holding Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, said that since Tuesday, it has lost contact with its members holding the Israeli hostage following the IDF’s entry into the area where he is believed to held.

Open gallery view Rom Braslavski

Following the terror group’s announcement, Braslavski’s family said, “No one knows where Rom is. The IDF and Islamic Jihad don’t know anything. The only thing we know is that he is being held alone.”

The family added that it has requested a meeting with IDF chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “but they haven’t reacted, responded or addressed our messages.”

The family said that Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, so far has been the only one to respond, “but he does not have answers or information to give us. No one is responding to us. We want to know where our son is. We want those responsible to meet with us and clarify to our faces the situation and not just bits of information and partial truths.”

Open gallery view Ofir Braslavski, Rom’s father, protesting in Jerusalem in January. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

“We heard what Minister Strok said,” the family added, referring to Minister Orit Strok’s call to expand the fighting across all borders of Gaza, even if hostages still alive might die in the process.

” She needs to put herself in our place. If she felt what I, Tami, feel as a mother – she wouldn’t speak that way,” the family said.

“When people in the government start thinking and imagining themselves in our position, then decisions will look different. Let’s see if they would still prioritize territory over hostages. We are broken and in pain. We demand answers from our country about our beloved Rom.”

Braslavski was taken hostage on October 7 from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a security guard. Eyewitnesses say Braslavski had many opportunities to escape, but he opted to remain and help others.

Open gallery view Israeli hostage held in Gaza, Rom Braslavski, in a video published by the Islamic Jihad Credit: Amit Braslavski’s Instagram

His father, Ofir Braslavski, says he was only kidnapped at 2:30 P.M., some eight hours after the attack began.

In April, Braslavski’s family approved the release of part of a video taken of him in Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad while in captivity.

Staying in Deir al-Balah, and The World Health Organization’s (WHO) staff residence and main warehouse were attacked by the Israeli military on Monday, the organization said.

Israeli tanks rolled into the central Gazan city on Monday, for the first time since the start of the 21-month war, according to media reports.

WHO’s main warehouse was damaged after an attack caused explosions and fire inside it, the organization said, as “part of a pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities.” The warehouse was later looted by “desperate crowds,” according to a WHO statement published Monday.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

The WHO staff residence was also attacked three times, it said, with staff members and their families, including children, “exposed to grave danger and traumatized after airstrikes caused a fire and significant damage.”

Women and children were forced to evacuate the premises by Israeli troops, while the men were “handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint,” according to WHO.

Four people were detained by Israeli forces, with three later being released, it said.

“With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment,” the organization said.

The location of all WHO premises are known to all relevant parties to the conflict, it continued, adding that the WHO will remain in Deir al-Balah to “deliver and expand its operations.”

“WHO is appalled by the dangerous conditions under which humanitarians and health workers are forced to operate. As the security situation and access continue to deteriorate, red lines are repeatedly crossed, and humanitarian operations pushed into an ever-shrinking space to respond,” it said, calling for the release of its staff member, the protection of its staff and premises, and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip unimpeded.

Gaza children starving to death in droves as horror images show suffering

WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGES A major alert has been issued over Gaza’s starving children with as many as 900,000 lives at risk as Israeli troops press on with their attacks

Desperately needed aid could save lives such as little Muhammad, 1.5 years old (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images )

At least 21 Palestinian children have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 72 hours – with another 70,000 now suffering malnutrition, medical officials have declared. Horrific imagery of starving children are emerging with, one year-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, shown as having starved to less than a stone in weight.

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Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Shifa hospital in Gaza City, says a further 900,000 children are having to go without food and have been hit by hunger. The Hamas-run health ministry says another 15 people have died of starvation within the past 24 hours, highlighting growing alarm about the Gaza devastation.

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Little Muhammad al-Matouq weighs less than a stone (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images )

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The doctor warned they face alarming numbers of deaths, the doctor warns, with diabetic and kidney patients at particular risk. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was said to be “appalled” and declared that in Gaza the “last lifeline keeping people alive are collapsing.”

The starvation alert rang out as Israeli forces stormed the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah for the first time since the war broke out. They were accused of attacking the UN’s World Health Organisation housing three times, handcuffing staff and interrogating them.

Aid is needed to save Gaza’s starving children (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images )

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Palestinians have been forced to flee to al-Mawasi on the Strip’s south west coast as the death toll of Gazans since war began soared to 59,029, according to local officials. At least 43 Palestinians have been killed across the Palestinian Strip since dawn on Tuesday, local officials said.

According to reports from within Gaza at least ten of the dead were killed as sought aid. The WHO, a UN agency, said:”Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict.

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Muhammad and other Gaza families are in desperate need (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images )

“Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint.” Israeli tank shelling killed at least 12 Palestinians and wounded dozens others in a tent encampment in western Gaza City north of the enclave, local health authorities said today.

Medics said the tanks stationed north of Shati camp fired two shells at tents, housing displaced families, killing at least 12 people. There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the incident.

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Israeli troops at the Gaza border (Image: AFP via Getty Images )

Talking in general about the fighting inside Gaza Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said: “The war in the Gaza Strip is one of the most complex the IDF has ever known.

“We have achieved significant accomplishments. We will continue operating to achieve our objectives: the return of the hostages and the dismantling of Hamas.” Just 20 of the 50 hostages remaining in captivity inside Gaza are thought to be alive and talks are still underway to try and settle a ceasefire.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the war (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images )

If a cessation in fighting is agreed it is likely to be for 60 days but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want an end to the war. He insists that even if a ceasefire is declared Israel will not stop the war until Hamas is totally destroyed or those that remain are then exiled. Hamas are insisting on meaningful talks about ending the war being part of the ceasefire period.

Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images

(LONDON) — Three more countries have joined the original 25 nations that released a joint statement this week calling for the immediate end of the war in Gaza and accusing Israel of not allowing sufficient aid in, demanding it must do so to comply with international humanitarian law.

“We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now,” the original statement, released on July 21, began. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.”

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” the statement further said.

Throughout the conflict, Israel has maintained they are sending enough aid into Gaza but international aid organizations have repeatedly said there is not enough aid, and the United Nations has reported conditions of malnutrition inside of Gaza.

The statement was initially signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. The foreign ministers of Greece, Malta and Cyprus have now also signed the statement as of July 22.

The call to action was released Monday following an incident Sunday in which at least 81 Palestinians were killed and another 150 were injured while trying to gain access to food, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, which said the majority of those killed were gathered near the Zikim border between Gaza and Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that its troops fired near crowds “in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them,” though it wasn’t specific. A review is ongoing, but “preliminary review indicates that the reported number of casualties does not align with existing information,” according to the IDF.

On Tuesday, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health reported that hospitals in the Gaza Strip had recorded the deaths of 15 people, including four children, due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours. That brings the total number of deaths from famine and malnutrition since the war began to 101, which includes 80 children, according to the health ministry.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement on X Monday in response to the initial announcement that Israel “rejects” the then-25-nation joint statement “as it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.”

“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” Marmorstein’s statement said.

The statement further said that while there is a “concrete proposal for a ceasefire deal,” Hamas “stubbornly refuses to accept it.”

“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognize Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation.” Marmorstein said. “Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides.”

“At these sensitive moments in the ongoing negotiations, it is better to avoid statements of this kind,” the Marmorstein statement concluded.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday called the initial joint statement “disgusting” in a post on X. “25 nations put pressure on @Israel instead of savages of Hamas! Gaza suffers for 1 reason: Hamas rejects EVERY proposal. Blaming Israel is irrational,” the post said.

At least 875 people have been killed in Gaza while trying to get food aid in recent weeks, according to the United Nations.

“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” the joint statement said. It also condemned Hamas for refusing to release the remaining Israeli hostages.

“The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release,” the statement said. “A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Monday that he is “appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza.”

The “last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,” Guterres said in part, adding that he “condemns the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families.”

“Civilians must be protected and respected, and they must never be targeted. The population in Gaza remains gravely undersupplied with the basic necessities of life,” Guterres’ statement said.

With the joint statement, the 28 signatory countries further called on the Israeli government to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively,” and for “all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law.”

“We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the statement continued. “Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this.”

“We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,” the statement concluded.

On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV also renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the pope said during Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, according to the Associated Press.

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