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Israel, US bring delegations home from Gaza truce talks

Over 100 aid organisations have warned that mass starvation was spreading in Gaza amid truce talks in Doha
Over 100 aid organisations have warned that mass starvation was spreading in Gaza amid truce talks in Doha

US envoy Steve Witkoff has said that the US was joining Israel in pulling negotiators back from Gaza peace talks in the Qatari capital, accusing Hamas of not "acting in good faith".

"We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza," Mr Witkoff posted on social media.

"While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith," he said.

Mr Witkoff said the US would now "consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza".

"It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had brought its delegation home from the talks and thanked mediators for their efforts and said the negotiators were returning home for "further consultations".

Hamas confirmed it had responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel said it was reviewing.

The response by Hamas included proposed amendments to clauses on the entry of aid, maps of areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, according to a Palestinian source familiar with ongoing talks in Doha.

However, an Israeli official this evening said that Hamas's response to Gaza ceasefire talks was not sufficient to allow progress, but that Israel intended to continue the talks.

The US said Mr Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor.

Life in Gaza 'completely unbearable', says UNRWA

Earlier, UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian agency said the situation on the ground in Gaza is "completely unbearable".

Today, there are further reports of spiralling malnutrition rates among Gaza's population of more than two million people, and further deaths due to famine.

Senior Emergency Officer with UNRWA Louise Wateridge described the situation at aid centres as "horror on horror," with accounts of people stepping over dead bodies to try to get some food and returning with nothing.

She said the lack of access to Gaza for the aid waiting to enter and Israel's restrictions on it are the problem.

"UNRWA alone has 6,000 trucks waiting to get in, half of that is essential food and medical supplies.

"It's about an hour away from the border; it could be there this afternoon," she said.

Dozens of people have starved to death in Gaza in the last few weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave, according to local health authorities.

The World Health Organization said yesterday that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year.

Four young children are seen holding pots as they wait to receive hot food distributed by a charity organisation in Gaza City
Young children wait to receive hot food distributed by a charity organisation in Gaza City

Today, the Gaza health ministry said two more people had died of malnutrition. The head of Shifa Hospital in Gaza said the two were patients suffering from other illnesses who died after going without food for several days.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Wateridge described her colleagues' stories as "the most horrifying experience I have ever heard anyone relay".

"Most of our healthcare workers are parents themselves with starving children.

"So, they are leaving their own starving children in the shelters to go to work to be a doctor, to be a nurse, to try and save other people, and other children's lives."

Ms Wateridge said the worst, and "most brutal" thing is that there is nothing they can do, because they do not have what they need, like supplies of nutrients, medicines, food and water, none of which is available.

She said one in 10 cases of children that UNRWA is screening daily is now "severely malnourished".

She said since the ceasefire ended in March this year, cases of malnutrition have risen by "over 150%".

"Now, of course, 11 weeks of total siege followed by drips and drops of some food, a lot of it through what we are describing as death-traps," a reference to the US and Israeli-backed aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, "because people going to get this food are being killed," she said.

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More than 100 aid organisations warned yesterday that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza.

Israeli forces this morning hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij.

Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate airstrikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others.

Nasser hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis toward an aid distribution site near Morag.

Smoke billowed from an area in Gaza during an attack where a school was heavily destroyed
A building is hit during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were linked.

US Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues.

An Israeli official said Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer would meet Mr Witkoff tomorrow if the gaps between Israel and Hamas over the terms of a ceasefire had narrowed sufficiently.

News agencies desperately concerned for journalists

The meetings come as four news agencies issued a joint statement expressing major concern for their journalists who are currently operating in Gaza.

AFP, Reuters, BBC News and AP said in a joint statement that they are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of the hardships endured by journalists in Gaza.

"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families.

"For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering," the statement said.

"We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there."

The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages from southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.