One quarter of Gazans one step away from famine amid uncertain truce talks

At least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip – one quarter of the population – are one step away from famine, a senior UN aid official told the Security Council on Tuesday, warning that widespread famine could be "almost inevitable" without action.

"Very little will be possible while hostilities continue and while there is a risk that they will spread into the overcrowded areas in the south of Gaza. We therefore reiterate our call for a ceasefire," said Ramesh Rajasingham, coordination director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

One in six children under age 2 in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition and practically all the 2.3 million people in the Palestinian enclave rely on "woefully inadequate" food aid to survive, he told the Security Council.

Rajasingham said the UN and aid groups face "overwhelming obstacles just to get a bare minimum of supplies into Gaza." These include crossing closures, restrictions on movement and communication, onerous vetting procedures, unrest, damaged roads and unexploded ordnance, he said.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for OCHA, also said on Tuesday that Israeli forces are "systematically" blocking access to Gaza. 

All planned aid convoys into the north have been denied by Israeli authorities in recent weeks. The last allowed in was on January 23, according to the World Health Organization.

However, Israeli deputy ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller countered that "it is not Israel who is holding up these trucks," instead placing the blame on the UN, which he said must distribute aid "more effectively."

"There is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid that can be sent to the civilian population of Gaza," he said, adding that since the beginning of 2024 Israel had only denied 16 percent of requests to deliver aid, and those were due to risks the shipments could end up in Hamas' hands.

Cautious over truce talks

Israel and Hamas as well as Qatari mediators all sounded notes of caution on Tuesday about progress towards a truce in Gaza, after U.S. President Joe Biden said he believed a ceasefire could be reached in under a week to halt the conflict for Ramadan.

Two senior Hamas officials told Reuters that Biden's remarks seemed premature. There are "still big gaps to be bridged," one of them said.

Hamas is weighing a proposal, agreed by Israel at talks with mediators in Paris last week, for a 40-day ceasefire, which would be the first extended truce of the five-month-old conflict. Both sides have delegations in Qatar this week hammering out details.

According to a source close to the ceasefire talks, the Paris proposal would see militants free some but not all of the hostages in return for Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees, a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza and Israeli troops pulling out of populated areas in the enclave.

But it appears to stop short of satisfying Hamas' main demand that any agreement include a clear path towards a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal, or resolving the fate of fighting-age Israeli men among the hostages.

Earlier, Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich said any deal for a ceasefire in Gaza would still require Hamas to drop "outlandish demands." She added: "We are willing. But the question remains whether Hamas are willing."

Qatar, which has acted as the main mediator, said a breakthrough had yet to be reached.

"We don't have a final agreement on any of the issues that are hampering reaching an agreement," said Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry. "We remain hopeful that we can get to some kind of agreement."

Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and captured 253 hostages on October 7, according to Israeli tallies, triggering Israel's ground assault on Gaza. Health authorities in the enclave say nearly 30,000 people have been confirmed killed.

(With input from agencies)