Southern Gaza came under intense Israeli bombardment overnight, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where famine is looming.
Gaza is in desperate need of aid and the United States said it would continue airdrops, despite pleas from Hamas to stop the practice after the Islamist group said 18 people had died trying to reach food packages.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said early this morning that 66 people had been killed overnight, including three killed in Israeli air strikes in and around Rafah. Underscoring the desperation of civilians trapped by the fighting, Hamas has asked donor countries to stop their airdrops after 12 people drowned trying to recover parachuted food aid from the sea off Gaza's Mediterranean coast.
The war, triggered by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, has shattered Gaza's infrastructure and aid agencies say all of its 2.4 million people are now in need of humanitarian help. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said:"The security situation is very difficult because people are desperate because they haven't got enough supplies and every time trucks come out of that gate to deliver assistance. The trucks get stopped and get ransacked, so unless we can get more and more food in with more trucks, then we're facing real challenges."
The United States, Israel's top ally, which had blocked previous resolutions, abstained from the vote, prompting Israel to cancel a planned US visit by senior officials. Officials from the two warring sides are in indirect mediated talks in Qatar aimed at agreeing on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said this week the talks were"ongoing".
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