Eight more people, including three children, had died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said. That took the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began. Israel disputes those malnutrition and hunger figures reported by the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya’s meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday were to focus on stopping the war, delivering aid and “ending the suffering of our people in Gaza”, Hamas official Taher al-Nono said in a statement.
Ceasefire possibilities
Egyptian security sources said the talks would also discuss the possibility of a comprehensive ceasefire that would see Hamas relinquish governance in Gaza and concede its weapons.
A Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the group was open to all ideas if Israel ended the war and pulled out. However, “laying down arms before the occupation is dismissed is impossible”, the official said.
Israeli sources said Netanyahu’s plan to expand military control over Gaza could be launched in October, heightening global outcry over the widespread devastation, displacement and hunger in the enclave.
Twenty-four nations this week decried the “unimaginable levels” of suffering and urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid and says it has taken steps to increase supplies, including daily combat pauses in some areas and protected routes for convoys.
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The Israeli military on Wednesday said nearly 320 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, and that a further 320-odd trucks were collected and distributed by the United Nations and international organisations in the past 24 hours, along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid.
But the UN and Palestinians say aid remains far from sufficient.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Since then, Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Arab states and much of the international community want post-war Gaza to be governed by the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The authority’s foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, told reporters it was ready to assume full responsibility in Gaza. Hamas would have no role and be required to hand over arms, she added, calling for an international peacekeeping force and withdrawal by Israel.
Hamas says it is ready to quit Gaza governance for a non-partisan technocratic entity agreed by all Palestinian parties.
Israel says it does not trust the PA to rule Gaza.
Reuters
