NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza

GAZA: More than 100 aid organisations and human rights groups warned on Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza, as the United States said its top envoy was heading to Europe for talks on a possible ceasefire and aid corridor.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict.

But it denied blocking supplies, announcing that 950 trucks' worth of aid were in Gaza and waiting for international agencies to collect and distribute it.


"We have not identified starvation at this current point in time but we understand that action is required to stabilise the humanitarian situation," an unnamed senior Israeli security official was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel.

On the ground, the Israeli military said it was operating in Gaza City and the north, and had hit dozens of "terror targets" across the Palestinian territory.

Gaza's civil defence agency told AFP that Israeli strikes killed 10 people overnight.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operations in late May -- effectively sidelining the longstanding UN-led system.

A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that "our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away".