Gaza is slipping into famine, UN-backed experts have warned, as the health ministry in the territory said the death toll in the nearly 22-month war had surpassed 60,000.
The health ministry figure excludes deaths from hunger in the Palestinian territory gripped by dire humanitarian conditions made worse by Israel's total blockade of aid from March to May.
This week, Israel launched a daily pause in fighting and opened secure routes to enable UN and non-governmental agencies to distribute food on Gaza's devastated streets. Hundreds of truckloads of aid have begun to arrive.
But Israeli strikes continued overnight, killing 30 people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to Gaza's civil defence agency - and experts warn a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions is imminent.
"The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip," said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises.
The World Food Programme's emergency director, Ross Smith, likened the situation to some of the worst famines of the past century.
"This is unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra," Mr Smith said.
"We need urgent action now."
The aid agency added that time was running out.
"We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation."
Limited aid 'a propaganda show' - aid worker in Gaza
The famine warning comes as a Palestinian aid worker in Gaza said the Israeli military's "tactical pauses" to its war on the enclave is propaganda to appease Western nations that are pressuring it over its starvation of Palestinians.
ActionAid Emergency Response Manager in Gaza Alaa Abu Samara said the trickle of aid getting into the territory is nowhere near enough to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, he said very few of the aid trucks that are allowed into Gaza during those pauses make it to NGOs because they are mobbed by starving people or seized by criminal groups.
"What is entering now to Gaza, for me, I believe it is more as a propaganda show because the Israeli government is under huge pressure because of the European government pressure and the international pressure to...stop the starvation of Gaza," Mr Abu Samara said.
He added: "For now, what is happening is just a propaganda show. The Israelis want to say, 'we are just letting in the aid in, we are trying to help the people to let them eat'.
"But what’s getting in is nothing at all."
As late as Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been insisting there was "no starvation in Gaza" but even his close international ally, US President Donald Trump, has now warned the situation appears to be "real starvation".
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.
Then on Sunday, faced with a mounting international chorus of alarm, Israel began a series of "tactical pauses" while allowed aid trucks to cross two border crossings into Gaza, and Jordanian and Emirati planes to airdrop aid.
Shipments have ramped up, but for the IPC this effort will not prove enough unless aid agencies are granted "immediate, unimpeded" humanitarian access.
"Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the Strip," it said, warning that 16 children under the age of five had died of hunger since 17 July.
"Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," it said.
According to Mr Netanyahu's office, the pause in military operations covers "key populated areas" between 10am and 8pm every day. Designated aid convoy routes will be secure from 6am to 11pm.
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COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry body in charge of civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said more than 200 truckloads of aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies yesterday.
Another 260 trucks were permitted to cross into Gaza to deposit aid at collection points, four UN tankers brought in fuel and 20 pallets of aid were airdropped from Jordanian and Emirati planes, COGAT said.
Overnight, however, strikes continued.
Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli air strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians, including women and children, in the central Nuseirat district.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the strikes were carried out overnight and into the morning and "targeted a number of citizens' homes" in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
The local Al-Awda hospital said it had received "the bodies of 30 martyrs, including 14 women and 12 children".
Pressure needed beyond 'angry tweets and statements'
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has called on world leaders to do more to help starving Palestinians in Gaza and put more pressure on Israel beyond publishing "angry tweets and statements".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Bayram said Israel is still not letting tents into Gaza to shelter people from the elements.
"The volume of what we are seeing remains way below our ambition.
"We need hundreds of trucks every day, not just 100, and we need to make sure that Israel keeps the gates open, that's the most important thing," Mr Bayram said.
"Everything on the ground from what we see, what my colleagues see, speaks of a deliberate policy to starve people," he added.
He urged more action to be taken against Israel.
"We don’t want just condemnation or scolding of what’s happening. We need real action, and real action happens through diplomacy.
"Now we’re seeing Israel moving in exactly the opposite direction, not just in words but actions on the ground, starving people to their very death.
"We want action from diplomats, we want action from the world," Mr Bayram said.
Ceasefire meetings continue
Hamas's negotiating team has left the Qatari capital Doha for Turkey to discuss the "latest developments" in the stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, a Hamas official said.
"A high-level leadership delegation from Hamas, headed by Mohammed Darwish, president of the movement's leadership council, and including the negotiation team and its head, Khalil al-Hayya, is departing Doha heading to Istanbul," the source said.
"The delegation will hold several meetings with Turkish officials regarding the latest developments in the ceasefire negotiations, which stalled last week," they added.
For over two weeks, mediators in Qatar had been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas delegations in a bid to secure a breakthrough in indirect talks for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza.
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The United States joined Israel last week in pulling its negotiators from the negotiations, with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff blaming the Palestinian militant group for the failure to reach a deal and saying Washington would "consider alternative options".
Hamas politburo member Bassem Naim on Friday said that the latest discussions focused on details of an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel has resisted international calls to agree a ceasefire.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar called the ceasefire demands "a distorted campaign of international pressure against Israel" that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.
"It ain't gonna happen, no matter how much pressure is put on Israel," he said at a press conference.
