Israel says it will send a delegation to Qatar for further talks with mediators after Hamas presented a new truce proposal.
The main United Nations aid agency operating in Gaza has said acute malnutrition was accelerating in the north of the Palestinian enclave as Israel prepared to send a delegation to Qatar for new truce talks over a hostage deal with Hamas. .
On Saturday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is now severely malnourished, putting more pressure on Israel. because of the coming famine.
“Child malnutrition is spreading rapidly and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza,” UNRWA said in a social media post.
On Friday, Israel said it would send a delegation to Qatar for further talks with mediators after Hamas put forward a new proposal for a ceasefire with an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
A source familiar with the talks told the Reuters news agency that the delegation will be led by the head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to convene the security cabinet to discuss the proposal before talks begin.
Netanyahu's office has said Hamas' offer was still based on “unrealistic demands.”
Repeated efforts failed to secure a ceasefire before the holy month of Ramadan, which began a week ago, and Israel said it plans to launch a new offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, beginning a two-day visit to the region, expressed concern about an attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents take refuge, and said there was a danger that it would cause “many terrible civilian casualties. .
On Friday, Netanyahu's office said he had approved an attack plan on Rafah and that civilians would be evacuated.
He gave no timetable and there was no immediate evidence of additional preparations on the ground.
Humanitarian crisis
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 31,553 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the strip's Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The assault also devastated the enclave, forcing almost all inhabitants to abandon their homes, leaving much of the territory in rubble and causing a massive hunger crisis.
“Child malnutrition is spreading rapidly and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza,” UNRWA said in a social media post. Gaza hospitals have reported that some children have died from malnutrition and dehydration.
Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow aid in, and the UN said it faced “overwhelming obstacles” including crossing closures, onerous checkpoints, movement restrictions and unrest inside Gaza.
A first delivery to Gaza by World Central Kitchen, pioneering a new sea route through Cyprus, arrived on Friday and was unloaded, the charity said.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said a second shipment of food aid was ready to leave by sea from Cyprus on Saturday, while the United States and Jordan said they carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid.
In an interview with CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan called the airdrops “literally just drops in the ocean of unmet needs” and accused Israel of “cutting off everything that is needed to sustain a human life: food, fuel , medicines, water.”
