More than 100 aid groups warn of starvation in Gaza as Israeli strikes
kill 29, officials say
[July 24, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and TIA GOLDENBERG
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 100 charity and human rights
groups said Wednesday that Israel's blockade and ongoing military
offensive are pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip toward starvation,
as Israeli strikes killed another 29 people overnight, according to
local health officials.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, was
set to meet with a senior Israeli official about ceasefire talks, a sign
that lower-level negotiations that have dragged on for weeks could be
approaching a breakthrough.
Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and
the offensive launched in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The
head of the World Health Organization said Gaza is “witnessing a deadly
surge” in malnutrition and related diseases, and that a “large
proportion” of its roughly 2 million people are starving.
Israel says it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery
efforts by U.N. agencies, which say they are hindered by Israeli
restrictions and the breakdown of security.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 50 hostages it holds,
around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for a lasting
ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to recover all the
captives and continue the war until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
‘Chaos, starvation and death’
In an open letter, 115 organizations, including major international aid
groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the
Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the
Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”
The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and “massacres” at
aid-distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human
rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking
aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel says its forces have only
fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.
The Israeli government's “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under
its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the letter
said.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that criticism, telling
reporters that acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients
and lack adequate supplies. He said rates of acute malnutrition exceed
10% and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20% are
malnourished, often severely.
The U.N. health agency's representative in the occupied Palestinian
territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said there were more than 30,000
children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza and that the WHO had
reports that at least 21 children under 5 have died so far this year.
Israel says critics are 'echoing Hamas' propaganda'
The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism in the open letter
and accused the groups of “echoing Hamas’ propaganda.” It said it has
allowed around 4,500 aid trucks into Gaza since lifting a complete
blockade in May, and that more than 700 trucks are waiting to be picked
up and distributed by the U.N.
That’s an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war
and far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed, and
which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year.
The U.N. says it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of
Israeli military restrictions, ongoing fighting and a breakdown of law
and order. An alternative system established by Israel and an American
contractor has been marred by violence and controversy.
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Iman Shabat, a mother of five carries a sack of flour unloaded from
a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern
Gaza Strip, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Top adviser to Netanyahu will meet US envoy in Rome
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Witkoff was headed
to Europe to meet with key leaders from the Middle East to discuss
the latest ceasefire proposal and release of hostages.
“We want this ceasefire to happen as soon as possible, and we want
these hostages to be released,” Leavitt said.
An official familiar with the negotiations said Ron Dermer, a top
adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was traveling
to Rome to meet Witkoff on Thursday. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the
sensitive negotiations.
The evolving deal is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which
Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others
in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid
supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold
negotiations on a lasting truce.
Overnight strikes kill at least 29
Israel has continued to carry out waves of daily airstrikes against
what it says are militant targets but which often kill women and
children. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the
militants operate in densely populated areas.
One of the overnight strikes hit a house in Gaza City, killing at
least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the
casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according
to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck an
Islamic Jihad militant, and that the incident was under review
because of reports of civilian casualties.
Shifa said another strike late Tuesday in Gaza City killed three
children.
A strike on an apartment in northern Gaza killed at least six
people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including
one who was pregnant, the ministry said. The military said it struck
a Hamas operative.
In central Gaza, a strike in a densely populated part of the
built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people and wounded 57,
according to Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack and
killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war,
according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish
between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more
than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other
international organizations see it as the most reliable source of
data on casualties.
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press Writer
Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report.
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