Gaza Strip
\nIsrael\u2019s total blockade of Gaza has passed its 60th day, deepening the hunger crisis in the coastal enclave, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a third day of hearings into Israel\u2019s humanitarian obligations to Palestinians.
\nThe continued blockade is the longest such closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, and came as Israeli forces continued bombarding the territory, killing at least 30 Palestinians on Wednesday alone.
\nIt has prompted warnings of famine, with the remaining charity kitchens across the Strip warning they may have to close down within days if aid is not allowed in.
\n\u201cWe have 70-80 community kitchens still working in Gaza \u2026 In four to five days, these community kitchens will close their doors,\u201d Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told the Reuters news agency.
\nShawa put the number of operational community kitchens in Gaza before the crossings closed at about 170.
\nHe said an additional 15 kitchens closed down on Monday.
\nSince March 2, Israel has barred all supplies, including food, water and medicine from entering Gaza, in a bid to force Hamas into renegotiating the ceasefire deal agreed in January.
\nIsrael wants the Palestinian group to release the remaining Israeli captives held in Gaza in exchange for humanitarian aid, an extended truce and more Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. But Hamas has insisted on an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire, saying any \u201cpartial deals\u201d will allow Israel to resume the killing in Gaza.
\nFamine assessment under way
\nAmid the intensified attacks and continued blockade, the global hunger watchdog, which is known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, has begun an analysis of food insecurity and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip.
\nThe assessment began on April 28 and will last one week, according to the United Nations\u2019s humanitarian agency (OCHA). More than 50 trained analysts from UN agencies and aid groups, from the Gaza Strip and abroad, are taking part in the exercise, it said.
\nThe IPC had issued at least four warnings since Israel\u2019s genocidal actions on Gaza began, saying the territory could be teetering on the precipice of famine.
\nThe assessment comes days after the World Food Programme (WFP) said its stocks in the enclave have been depleted. The agency had shut all of its bakeries in the Strip earlier in the month, over a lack of flour and fuel.
\nMost families are surviving on less than a meal a day, and are resorting to eating \u201cwhatever they can find\u201d, even if it is not safe for consumption, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
\nMeanwhile, the large number of dead and wounded has overwhelmed the remaining partially functioning hospitals in Gaza, and medical staff warn that many are dying due to the shortage of medical supplies, according to Al Jazeera\u2019s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City.
\n\u201cMedical staff warn there are many more dying quietly inside emergency wards of the remaining health facilities due to the shortage of medical supplies. Medications as simple as painkillers are not available,\u201d he said.
\nThe president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Younis al-Khatib, called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel as it \u201cleft no space for humanity to live in Gaza\u201d.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t see my colleagues, my friends, and my staff being killed by a state that does not respect our emblem, does not respect international law,\u201d al-Khatib told Al Jazeera.
\n\u201cIf any other state had done it, it would have been sanctioned.\u201d<\/p>\n
US defends Israel at ICJ
\nMeanwhile, in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICJ continued its hearings on what Israel must do to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, following a request for an advisory opinion from the UN General Assembly last year.
\nThe United States defended Israel on Wednesday, saying that while it must provide aid to Gaza, it does not have to work with UNRWA. Israel banned the agency from operating on its territory in January, after alleging that 19 out of approximately 13,000 staff took part in Hamas\u2019s attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
\nJoshua Simmons, a legal adviser from the US State Department, argued there was \u201cno legal requirement that an occupying power permit a specific third state or international organisation to conduct activity that would compromise its security interests\u201d.
\nSimmons suggested other organisations could fulfil UNRWA\u2019s mission, despite the UN agency having repeatedly stated that there could be no replacement for its role as an aid provider.
\nSimilar points were raised by Hungary as it took the floor in defence of Israel.
\nThe Russian Federation, which spoke directly after the US, said that UNRWA\u2019s work was crucial for the Palestinian people and the agency was supported by the majority of the international community.
\n\u201cThe urgency of this matter cannot be overstated. Gaza balances on the brink of famine. Hospitals lie in ruins. Millions of Palestinians in the [Gaza] Strip, as well as in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, face existential despair,\u201d Maksim Musikhin, of Russia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the court.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Rory Challands, reporting from The Hague, said other countries, including Turkiye, France, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan and Kuwait, were expected to speak against Israel\u2019s aid blockade before the end of the day.
\nChallands said the countries that gave statements to the court in the first two days of the hearings had all been critical of Israel\u2019s actions. \u201cIt was only at the beginning of the third day that a country turned up and spoke in defence of Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that, of course, was the US.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza Strip Israel\u2019s total blockade of Gaza has passed its 60th day, deepening the hunger crisis in the coastal enclave, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a third day of hearings into Israel\u2019s humanitarian obligations to Palestinians. The continued blockade is the longest such closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, and came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-475876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n