Israel-Hamas war: UN-backed report warns of mass starvation

The United Nations Security Council has once again postponed a vote on a repeatedly-delayed resolution on the war between Hamas and Israel, diplomatic sources said.

The postponement to Friday came even as the United States, which has opposed a string of proposals during the drafting of the resolution, said it was ready to support the text in its current form.

Several countries had to consult with their governments, it was said.

After days of delays, the latest draft is understood to include calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

The text is the result of intensive negotiations involving the US, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. It does not call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

More than 20 countries have agreed to join a new coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants, according to the Pentagon.

"We've had over 20 nations now sign on to participate," Major General Patrick Ryder said.

He pointed to public declarations by Greece and Australia on their involvement.

"We'll allow other countries, defer to them to talk about their participation," he said, suggesting that at least eight countries did not want to be publicly named.

Ryder said that each country will contribute what it can. "In some cases that will include vessels. In other cases, it could include staff or other types of support," he said.

Houthi rebels have been firing at vessels in the Red Sea, citing Israel's offensive in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip as the reason for the attacks. This has prompted companies to take a much longer route around Africa for the shipping of goods.

The United States is still working with partners to reach a UN Security Council resolution, according to the White House.

"We're still actively working with our UN partners about the resolution and on the language itself," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

On Wednesday, the US requested a postponement of the Gaza session to continue talks with Egypt.

Contention surrounds calls for the UN monitoring of aid entering the Gaza Strip, which is undergoing a major humanitarian crisis and 85% of the population has been displaced.

"Israel has had, understandably so, a role in the inspection regime — a key role, a pivotal role — and we understand and respect that," Kirby said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military on Thursday claimed to control the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah.

The IDF said it had full "operational control" over the area, known as a Hamas stronghold.

Israel said its soldiers would continue to carry out operations in the area, killing Hamas militants and destroying its infrastructure.

Located in northern Gaza, Shijaiyah has been the scene of fierce fighting between IDF soldiers and Hamas militants.

Nine IDF soldiers have so far been killed in ambushes in the area according to the military. The IDF claims to have already killed several Hamas militants as well as having destroyed the entrances to dozens of the group's tunnels.

Late last week, IDF soldiers also mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages during operations in Shijaiyah. The men were shirtless, waving a white flag and begging for help in Hebrew at the time they were killed.

A report released Thursday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) claimed the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million residents were currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity, and that the situation could deteriorate drastically if the status quo persisted.

The IPC forecast that by February 7, at current rates, "the entire population in the Gaza Strip" would be at "crisis or worse" levels of hunger on its five-level scale. 

"This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country," it said.

The organization said famine conditions were yet to take hold, given the comparatively short period where people have faced malnutrition, but warned this transition was highly likely unless the situation improved. 

The German Foreign Ministry called the IPC's projections "appalling." 

"It is urgent that Israel grants better access for assistance, adapts its military strategy & allows for humanitarian pauses. Hunger feeds terror," the ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Food and water have become increasingly scarce in Gaza since Israel began retaliatory military strikes and a ground invasion in the enclave, in response to October 7 attacks launched from Gaza by the Islamist militant group Hamas.

Israel immediately blockaded the region after the attack — which killed nearly 1,300 Israelis — cutting off deliveries of fuel, medicine, food and water. Although it later allowed a trickle of aid in through Egypt, UN agencies say only 10% of Gaza's food needs has been entering for weeks.

Speaking in Egypt on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron called for a "sustainable cease-fire" in Gaza.

"I want this conflict to end as soon as possible," he said at a news conference alongside Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

"What we need is a sustainable cease-fire where Hamas is no longer able to threaten Israel with rockets and with terrorism," he said, referring to the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, which Israel, Germany, the US, the EU and others have classified as a terror organization.

"Everything that can be done must be done to get more aid into Gaza, to help the people in the desperate situation that they're in," said Cameron.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday the expansion of its military offensive in central Gaza.

In a statement, the IDF said an operation they have launched in the southern area of Gaza City aims to grant them "operational control" in the center of the strip.

During the operation, IDF troops "eliminated terrorists, located many weapons including rocket launchers, motorcycles and explosives, and destroyed shafts," the IDF said. 

Israel started its ground offensive in the besieged strip in late October, focusing mainly on northern Gaza and its largest settlement, Gaza City.

After a weeklong cease-fire in late November which saw dozens of Israeli hostages released, the IDF resumed its attacks on Gaza, expanding the ground offensive in southern areas of the strip. 

It has especially focused on the strip's second-largest city of Khan Younis, which Israel has said is another Hamas stronghold.

Some 30 rockets were fired at Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, where an Israeli offensive ongoing since Hamas' October 7 terror attacks have killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians.

Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv as rockets fired from Gaza were intercepted, the Reuters news agency reported. Israel's national ambulance service said there had been several impact points in the southern areas of the cities but no immediate word of any casualties.

The armed wing of  Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks. It said the salvo was in reaction to the relentless Israeli attacks in Gaza, leading to civilian deaths.

Thurday's rocket launches showed Hamas, a militant-Islamist group listed as a terror organization by several countries, including Israel, Germany and the United States, is still capable of firing into Israel even as the Israeli military offensive in Gaza is in its third month.

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip has left the northern part of the besieged Palestinian enclave with no functional hospitals, according to the World Health Organization.

Of the strip's 36 health facilities, only nine in the southern areas remained partially functioning, said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza.

"There are actually no functional hospitals left in the north," Peeperkorn told reporters via video link from Jerusalem. "Al-Ahli [Hospital] was the last one, but it is now minimally functional: still treating patients but not admitting new ones."

Peeperkorn said the hospital was the only medical facility in northern Gaza where injured people could get surgery until two days ago. 

"There are no operating theaters anymore due to the lack of fuel, power, medical supplies and health workers, including surgeons and other specialists," he said.

Three other minimally functioning health facilities in the north are now overwhelmed with thousands of displaced people seeking shelter there, Peeperkorn added.

WHO aid coordinator Sean Casey, meanwhile, said patients were not only dying due to lack of medical care but that "they are starving and dying of thirst" as well.

The body renewed its call for a humanitarian cease-fire to "reinforce and restock remaining health facilities, deliver medical services needed by thousands of injured people and those needing other essential care, and, above all, to stop the bloodshed and death."

The Israeli military said troops located "a vast tunnel network" under Gaza City that included command and control positions, meeting rooms, and hideout apartments for the most senior leaders of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the tunnels ran from properties registered in the names of senior Hamas figures.

Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said on Wednesday that the rooms were 20 meters (60 feet) underground with elevators, stairs, separate water and electricity shafts, and with water, food, weapons and communications equipment stored for a prolonged stay.

The Israeli military said the complex was centered on Palestine Square in central Gaza City, under stores, government offices and apartment buildings.

Hamas has long boasted that its tunnel network is hundreds of kilometers long. Some shafts are up to 80 meters deep and were described by one freed hostage as "a spider's web."

The militant-Islamist group Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the European Union.

There are fragile hopes that Israel and Hamas may be moving toward another truce and hostage-release deal.

The expectations come after talks in Europe and a visit to Egypt by the head of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Egypt on Wednesday for the first time in more than a month for talks with Egyptian officials aiming to broker another truce.

Envoys were said to be discussing which of the hostages still held by Palestinian Islamist militants in Gaza could be released, and which Palestinian prisoners held by Israel could be freed. 

Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group holding hostages in Gaza, has said its leader will visit Egypt in the coming days.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry on Wednesday said the death toll in the Palestinian territory had reached at least 20,000, mostly women and children.

Netanyahu on Tuesday told relatives of some of the 129 captives still being held in Gaza that he had sent the head of the Mossad spy agency "to Europe twice to promote a process to free our hostages." 

However, he has also said the fighting will not stop until Israel achieves its objectives, including "the elimination of Hamas."

The hostages were taken when Hamas and other militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 240, according to Israeli figures. 

Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union, has insisted it will not discuss anything less than a complete end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. 

The United States has expressed some optimism about a truce and hostage deal, but US President Joe Biden has warned that there is still some way to go.

"These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed hope that there would be a pause in the violence.

"We remain very actively engaged in seeing if we can get a pause back on and hostages moving out again," he said.

Biden struck a note of caution, given the differences that still exist between the sides. 

"There's no expectation at this point, but we are pushing," he said. Regarding the rising death toll in Gaza, Biden said: It's tragic."

The UN Security Council is set to try once again to pass a resolution calling for a halt in fighting between Israel and Hamas. 

Council members are expected to vote on Thursday after a delay at the request of the United States, a permanent council member and veto holder.

Israel, backed by Washington, has opposed the term "cease-fire," and the US has twice blocked resolutions including the term. 

Diplomatic wrangling caused the vote to be postponed on Wednesday — even as conditions in Gaza continued to deteriorate while the death toll rose.

The United Arab Emirates is sponsoring a draft resolution on the conflict said to have been watered down to secure a compromise. 

A vote on the resolution has been pushed back several times since Monday. 

"If this fails, then we will continue to keep trying," said the UAE's Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh. "There is too much suffering on the ground for the Council to continue to fail on this."

A previous draft had called for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities."

However, the language now "calls for the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities."