(The Australian, 22/2/2024)
If you cant kill them with bombs and bullets then starve them to death- Mark
Heavy fighting rocked besieged Gaza on Wednesday as aid agencies warned of looming famine and new talks were held in Cairo towards an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The White House sent Middle East envoy Brett McGurk for renewed talks involving mediators and Hamas, a day after a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire was blocked by the US.
Global concern has spiralled over the high civilian death toll and dire humanitarian crisis in the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack against Israel.
Combat and chaos again stalled sporadic aid deliveries for desperate civilians in Gaza, where the UN has warned the population of 2.4 million is on the brink of famine and could face an “explosion” of child deaths.
The UN World Food Programme said it was forced to halt aid deliveries in north Gaza because of “complete chaos and violence” after a truck convoy encountered gunfire and was ransacked by looters.
Hamas called the move a “death sentence”.
More Israeli strikes continued to pound Gaza, with 118 people killed in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which put the overall death toll at 29,313.
Air strikes continued into Wednesday evening, according to an AFP correspondent.
Abdel Rahman Mohamed Jumaa said he lost his family in strikes on Gaza’s far-southern Rafah.
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