Israel kills dozens in Gaza as starvation claims more lives

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US Senator Chris Van Hollen sharply criticised Israel’s blockade on Gaza in a speech, warning that the situation had “gone from horrible to hell on Earth.”

The Maryland Democrat called the humanitarian crisis “man-made and preventable,” and urged Israel to allow UN-led aid convoys into Gaza without delay. “The Netanyahu government must immediately allow the UN-led distribution system to resume delivery of aid into Gaza to avert a full-blown famine,” he said.

While Van Hollen reaffirmed Israel’s right to pursue Hamas and called for the release of hostages, he condemned Israel’s policies as a form of collective punishment. “You cannot justify making all two million people in Gaza pay for the sins of Hamas,” he said.

Hundreds of Moroccans staged a mass sit-in outside the US consulate in Casablanca on Thursday to denounce the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The protest was organised by the Moroccan Front for the Support of Palestine and Against Normalisation. Verified footage published by local media showed demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and holding banners criticising both Israel and the US.

Chants called for an end to Israeli attacks and highlighted the role of Western powers in enabling the ongoing blockade.

France, Germany, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates carried out 90 new aid airdrops over Gaza on Thursday, in coordination with the Israeli military.

While Israeli authorities say the deliveries are part of efforts to “improve the humanitarian response,” UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly said airdrops are a deeply inadequate substitute for coordinated ground aid.

The UN and major NGOs have described the airdrops as inefficient, dangerous, and dehumanising for starving civilians. In recent weeks, several people in Gaza have been injured by falling aid packages.

The amount of aid entering Gaza remains "very insufficient" despite a limited improvement, the German government said on Saturday after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel.

The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation.

Germany "notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation," government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.

"Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid," Kornelius added.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that al-Shifa, al-Rantisi, Nasser, and al-Ahli Arab hospitals are now operating far beyond their capacity, with patients being treated in corridors and on the floor due to a lack of available beds.

In a statement, the ministry said hospitals were “resorting to spreading beds in corridors and on floors to accommodate the increase in patient and injury numbers”.

The ministry renewed its call to the international community, including UN agencies and humanitarian organisations, to deliver urgent and effective support to what it described as a “collapsed” health sector under siege.

At least 57 people were killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to medical sources.

The majority of the dead were reportedly civilians seeking aid, with at least 35 killed near aid distribution points by Israeli fire.

A BBC investigation into Israeli forces' attacks on Palestinian children has revealed shocking details on the targeting of minors in Gaza.

Of the 168 cases the BBC compiled of Palestinian children shot in Gaza, 95 were shot either in the head or chest.

Out of the 95 cases, over two-thirds were under the age of 12.

The cases were identified using eyewitness testimonies from Palestinians on the ground or from human rights organisations and medics. Hundreds of photos, videos, medical scans, notes and journal entries were also examined.

Eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to receive aid, according to Al Jazeera citing emergency rescue workers. The attack, which occurred in northern Gaza, is the latest in a series of killings of aid seekers in Gaza today, with 27 people previously being reported killed by Israeli forces.

Israeli attacks have killed 51 people since dawn, according to sources in Gaza speaking with Al Jazeera. The outlet added that 27 of those killed were aid seekers.

The family of an Israeli captive held in Gaza for almost 22 months accused Hamas on Saturday of tormenting him with hunger as part of a propaganda campaign.

The David family was reacting after Hamas's armed wing released a video of 24-year-old Evyatar David, looking emaciated and weak in a narrow concrete tunnel, for the second night in a row.

"Hamas is using our son as a live experiment in a vile hunger campaign. The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen," the family said in a statement.

Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video on Friday of an Israeli captive showing signs of severe weight loss and malnutrition, raising further alarm over the ongoing starvation and siege in Gaza.

The caption to the video, posted on Telegram, reads that the captive is "waiting to be released in a prisoner swap".

The video shows the captive, who was later identified as Israeli soldier Evyatar David, looking markedly thin and sitting on bed in a cramped room. His arms show signs of drastic weight loss, and his ribs are also protruding, in a scene which has become increasingly common in Gaza as Israel obstructs aid.

The clip went on to show earlier footage of the captive being transported in a vehicle during a previous temporary ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement which took place in January.

The captions in the video are written in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and go on to state "the occupation government has decided to starve them…they eat what we eat, they drink what we drink".

Hamas said on Saturday that it would not lay down arms unless an independent Palestinian state is established.

In a statement, the Palestinian militant faction said its "armed resistance ... cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights, foremost among them the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza war and deal for the release of hostages ended last week in deadlock.

Italy have announced it will begin air drops into the Gaza Strip, following France and Spain, as the enclave slips into a famine as Israel prevents aid from entering.

"I have given the green light to a mission involving Army and Air Force assets for the transport and airdrop of basic necessities to civilians in Gaza, who have been severely affected by the ongoing conflict," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement.

Tajani said the drops could begin on 9 August.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that 98 Palestinians have been killed and 1,079 have been wounded over the last 24 hours in Israeli attacks on the enclave. 

The toll includes 39 killed and 849 wounded attempting to seek aid.

The health ministry updated the total number of killed in Gaza since the start of the war to 60,430, with a further 148,722 wounded.

Eighty percent of north Gaza's ambulances have been destroyed, according to the head of emergency and ambulance services in North Gaza, Fares Afanah, speaking with Al Jazeera. He also said that Israeli forces frequently block ambulances from reading victims.

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Saturday the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to the main association representing those still in captivity almost 22 months after being seized during Hamas's October 2023 attacks.

Cellphone video posted online showed the Washington negotiator arriving in a square in Tel Aviv that has become known for protests by supporters of the hostages' families and being greeted with applause and pleas for help.

Israel's top general has warned that there will be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations fail to quickly secure the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

"I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," said army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, according to a military statement.

"If not, the combat will continue without rest," he said, during remarks to officers inside Gaza on Friday.

Footage released by the Israeli military showed Zamir meeting soldiers and officers in a command centre.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed decisions on Israeli army actions in Gaza in the event a ceasefire with Hamas isn't agreed to, CNN reports, adding that the Israeli government is split over whether to escalate military action in the enclave.

A number of options are currently being discussed, including surrounding Gaza City and other population centres, as well as a "conquer" of Gaza City, with different ministers in favor of different plans.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has condemned airdrops of aid over Gaza as "100 times more expensive" than traditional land delivery and called for the immediate reopening of border crossings to prevent further starvation.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said on Friday that airdrops were an inefficient and insufficient way to respond to the worsening famine in Gaza, stressing that "trucks carry twice as much aid as planes" and that the political will to authorise costly airdrops should instead be channelled into reopening land routes.

"If there is political will to allow airdrops, which are expensive, insufficient and ineffective, there must also be political will to open land crossings," Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.

Two Palestinians have been killed and 26 have been wounded by Israeli fire waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor, according to Al Jazeera citing sources at the Al-Awda hospital.

Palestinian child Ated Abu Khater has died from starvation at the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, medical sources told Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Ted Chaiban, has warned that tens of thousands of children could die if there is not an influx of aid into the Gaza Strip, following a visit to the territory. 

In a series of remarks made on Friday, Chaiban said: "We are at a crossroads. The choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die. We know what must be done and what can be done."

He further said that "more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition," and called for a greater amount of aid entry into the enclave.