Israel

Starvation in Gaza. An entire population deprived of food after months of Israel blocking vital supplies and waging relentless attacks.

Experts say the strategy means long-term damage for the health of Gaza’s people.

So what are the consequences of Israel’s actions?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Dr Nick Maynard – Volunteer surgeon who worked in Gaza with Medical Aid for Palestinians

Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan – Paediatric intensive care doctor treating acute malnutrition in Gaza

Alex de Waal – Executive director at World Peace Foundation; author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine

Israeli forces have killed at least 63 people across Gaza, hours after the military announced it would begin “pausing” attacks for 10 hours daily in some areas to allow humanitarian aid to pass through.

On Sunday, the Israeli army said it would temporarily halt military activity each day from 10am to 8pm (07:00-17:00 GMT) in parts of central and northern Gaza, including al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City. It also pledged to open designated aid corridors for food and medical convoys between 6am and 11pm.

But hours into the first day of the “humanitarian pauses”, Israeli air raids resumed.

“There was an air strike on Gaza City, and this is one of the areas that was designated as a safe area, and where the Israeli forces are going to halt their military operations,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah.

“According to Palestinians in that area, a bakery was targeted.”

The bombardment comes as global outcry grows over the worsening humanitarian disaster in Gaza inflicted by Israel.

Famine deaths rise

Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that six more Palestinians, including two children, died from hunger-related causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the number of starvation deaths to 133 since October 2023.

Among the dead was five-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb, who succumbed to malnutrition at Nasser Hospital.

“Three months inside the hospital, and this is what I get in return, that she is dead,” said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, as the child’s father cradled her small body wrapped in a white shroud.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Sunday that one in three Gaza residents has gone days without eating, and nearly 500,000 people are suffering from “famine-like conditions”. The World Health Organization also warned last week that more than 20 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished.

Falestine Ahmed, a mother in Gaza, told Al Jazeera she lost one-third of her body weight.

“I used to weigh 57kg [126 pounds], now I weigh 42kg [93 pounds], and both my son and I have been diagnosed with severe malnutrition,” she said. “We barely have any food at home, and even when it’s available, it’s far too expensive for us to afford.”

Israel has authorised new corridors for aid, while the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have airdropped supplies into the territory. However, deliveries have been fraught with danger and are far too few.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported that one aid drop injured nearly a dozen people. “Eleven people were reported with injuries as one of these pallets fell directly on tents in that displacement site near al-Rasheed Road.”

Despite the mounting evidence of extreme hunger, Israel continues to deny that famine exists in Gaza. The Israeli military insists it is working to improve humanitarian access.

But scenes of desperation contradict official claims. “I’ve come all this way, risking my life for my children. They haven’t eaten for a week,” said Smoud Wahdan, a mother searching for flour, speaking to Al Jazeera. “At the very least, I’ve been looking for a piece of bread for my children.”

Another displaced mother, Tahani, said that her cancer-stricken child was among those suffering. “I came to get flour, to look for food to feed my children. I wish God’s followers would wake up and see all these people. They are dying.”

Aid groups overwhelmed

Liz Allcock, the head of protection for Medical Aid for Palestinians, told Al Jazeera that she has never seen Gaza in such a state. “The scale of starvation and the number of people you see walking around who are literally skin and bones [is shocking]… Money really has no value here when there is nothing to buy,” she said.

“All of Gazan society – no matter who they are – is suffering from critical food shortages,” she added, warning that one-quarter of the population is at risk of acute malnutrition.

The United Nations says aid deliveries can only succeed if Israel approves the rapid movement of convoys through its checkpoints.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher noted that while some restrictions appeared to have eased, the scale of the crisis required far more action.

“This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis,” he said.

Diplomatic pressure builds

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he discussed the Gaza situation with his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts and plans to co-host a conference in New York City next week focused on securing a two-state solution.

“We cannot accept that people, including large numbers of children, die of hunger,” he said.

Macron confirmed that France would soon recognise Palestinian statehood, joining more than 140 UN member states.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview that Israel’s blockade of aid amounts to a violation of “humanity and morality”.

“Quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March,” he told ABC News. However, he added that Australia was not ready to recognise Palestinian statehood “imminently”.

In the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that ceasefire talks led by President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, are making “a lot of progress”.

“We’re optimistic and hopeful that any day now, we will have a ceasefire agreement,” Rubio told Fox News, suggesting that half of the remaining Israeli captives may be released soon.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 88 Palestinians were killed and 374 wounded in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours alone.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, at least 59,821 Palestinians have been killed and more than 144,000 injured.

Despite talk of pauses and diplomacy, the violence continues to escalate.

For the past few years, governments across the world have paid close attention to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. There, it is said, we see the first glimpses of what warfare of the future will look like, not just in terms of weaponry, but also in terms of new technologies and tactics.

Most recently, the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran demonstrated not just new strategies of drone deployment and infiltration but also new vulnerabilities. During the 12-day conflict, Iran and vessels in the waters of the Gulf experienced repeated disruptions of GPS signal.

This clearly worried the Iranian authorities who, after the end of the war, began to look for alternatives.

“At times, disruptions are created on this [GPS] system by internal systems, and this very issue has pushed us toward alternative options like BeiDou,” Ehsan Chitsaz, deputy communications minister, told Iranian media in mid-July. He added that the government was developing a plan to switch transportation, agriculture and the internet from GPS to BeiDou.

Iran’s decision to explore adopting China’s navigation satellite system may appear at first glance to be merely a tactical manoeuvre. Yet, its implications are far more profound. This move is yet another indication of a major global realignment.

For decades, the West, and the US in particular, have dominated the world’s technological infrastructure from computer operating systems and the internet to telecommunications and satellite networks.

This has left much of the world dependent on an infrastructure it cannot match or challenge. This dependency can easily become vulnerability. Since 2013, whistleblowers and media investigations have revealed how various Western technologies and schemes have enabled illicit surveillance and data gathering on a global scale – something that has worried governments around the world.

Iran’s possible shift to BeiDou sends a clear message to other nations grappling with the delicate balance between technological convenience and strategic self-defence: The era of blind, naive dependence on US-controlled infrastructure is rapidly coming to an end. Nations can no longer afford to have their military capabilities and vital digital sovereignty tied to the satellite grid of a superpower they cannot trust.

This sentiment is one of the driving forces behind the creation of national or regional satellite navigation systems, from Europe’s Galileo to Russia’s GLONASS, each vying for a share of the global positioning market and offering a perceived guarantee of sovereign control.

GPS was not the only vulnerability Iran encountered during the US-Israeli attacks. The Israeli army was able to assassinate a number of nuclear scientists and senior commanders in the Iranian security and military forces. The fact that Israel was able to obtain their exact locations raised fears that it was able to infiltrate telecommunications and trace people via their phones.

On June 17 as the conflict was still raging, the Iranian authorities urged the Iranian people to stop using the messaging app WhatsApp and delete it from their phones, saying it was gathering user information to send to Israel. Whether this appeal was linked to the assassinations of the senior officials is unclear, but Iranian mistrust of the app run by US-based corporation Meta is not without merit.

Cybersecurity experts have long been sceptical about the security of the app. Recently, media reports have revealed that the artificial intelligence software Israel uses to target Palestinians in Gaza is reportedly fed data from social media. Furthermore, shortly after the end of the attacks on Iran, the US House of Representatives moved to ban WhatsApp from official devices.

For Iran and other countries around the world, the implications are clear: Western platforms can no longer be trusted as mere conduits for communication; they are now seen as tools in a broader digital intelligence war.

Tehran has already been developing its own intranet system, the National Information Network, which gives more control over internet use to state authorities. Moving forward, Iran will likely expand this process and possibly try to emulate China’s Great Firewall.

By seeking to break with Western-dominated infrastructure, Tehran is definitively aligning itself with a growing sphere of influence that fundamentally challenges Western dominance. This partnership transcends simple transactional exchanges as China offers Iran tools essential for genuine digital and strategic independence.

The broader context for this is China’s colossal Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While often framed as an infrastructure and trade project, BRI has always been about much more than roads and ports. It is an ambitious blueprint for building an alternative global order. Iran – strategically positioned and a key energy supplier – is becoming an increasingly important partner in this expansive vision.

What we are witnessing is the emergence of a new powerful tech bloc – one that inextricably unites digital infrastructure with a shared sense of political defiance. Countries weary of the West’s double standards, unilateral sanctions and overwhelming digital hegemony will increasingly find both comfort and significant leverage in Beijing’s expanding clout.

This accelerating shift heralds the dawn of a new “tech cold war”, a low-temperature confrontation in which nations will increasingly choose their critical infrastructure, from navigation and communications to data flows and financial payment systems, not primarily based on technological superiority or comprehensive global coverage but increasingly on political allegiance and perceived security.

As more and more countries follow suit, the Western technological advantage will begin to shrink in real time, resulting in redesigned international power dynamics.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Months after stopping all supplies from entering Gaza, Israel has airdropped a few aid cartons and allowed some trucks to enter the Strip, following immense international pressure. Israel says it’s also begun 10-hour pauses in fighting in three locations ‘for humanitarian purposes’, but continuing attacks killed more than 50 Palestinians on Sunday.

The hunger that has been building among Gaza’s more than two million Palestinians has passed a tipping point and is accelerating deaths, aid workers and health staff say.

Not only Palestinian children – usually the most vulnerable – are falling victim to Israel’s blockade since March, but also adults.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme says nearly 100,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition, and almost a third of people in Gaza are “not eating for days”. Medical workers say they have run out of many key treatments and medicines.

The World Health Organization reports a sharp rise in malnutrition and disease, with a large proportion of Gaza’s residents now starving.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics in Gaza last week were malnourished, blaming Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon”.

A Syrian official tells Al Jazeera Damascus emphasises the unity and sovereignty of Syria are nonnegotiable.

Syrian and Israeli officials have held talks in Paris mediated by the United States, according to a Syrian official, in the wake of an eruption of sectarian violence compounded by Israeli military intervention in southern Syria.

The meeting on Saturday was held to address recent security developments around the southern Druze-majority city of Suwayda, which has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Bedouins and Druze fighters.

Israel intervened in the conflict, striking government buildings in Damascus and government soldiers in Suwayda province, saying it was doing so to protect the Druze.

The Syrian official told Al Jazeera Arabic that Damascus’s delegation at the Paris meeting emphasised that the unity and sovereignty of Syria are nonnegotiable and Suwayda and its people are an integral part of Syria. It also rejected any attempt to exploit segments of Syrian society for partition, the official said.

The source said the Syrian delegation held Israel responsible for the recent escalation and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the points they had recently advanced to during the unrest.

‘Honest and responsible’

Syria’s state-run Ekhbariya TV, quoting its own diplomatic source, reported that the meeting did not result in any final agreements but the parties had agreed to continue talks aimed at maintaining stability.

The TV source described the dialogue as “honest and responsible” in the first confirmation from the Syrian side that talks had taken place.

On Friday, US envoy Tom Barrack said officials from both countries spoke about de-escalating the situation in Syria during talks on Thursday.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed in the fighting in Suwayda, which also drew in government forces. Israel, which carried out air strikes, during this month’s violence, has regularly struck Syria and launched incursions into its territory since longtime former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.

Last week’s fighting underlined the challenges interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa faces in stabilising Syria and maintaining centralised rule.

Syria’s government announced a week ago that Bedouin fighters had been cleared out of Suwayda and government forces were deployed to oversee their exit from the entire province.

The announcement came after al-Sharaa ordered a new ceasefire between Bedouin and Druze groups after a separate US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military attacks on Syria.

The diplomatic source, who spoke to Ekhbariya TV, said the meeting on Saturday involved initial consultations aimed at “reducing tensions and opening channels of communication amid an ongoing escalation since early December”.

Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon – Fatima Kandeel, 43, and her two sons moved into a new rented apartment in the southern suburbs of Beirut in March.

They had been staying with her sister Aida nearby for four months after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon had stopped the worst, but not all, of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and it felt good to have their own place.

In their barely furnished living room in Laylake, Dahiyeh, with only two armchairs and a shisha pipe between them, the walls make clear where the family stands.

A framed photo of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah hangs beside a martyr’s portrait of Fatima’s 21-year-old nephew, a Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli air strike in Jnoub in October.

In the rubble, scraps of home

When the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah declared its support for Palestine and escalated tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border for about a year until Israel invaded and launched full-scale war.

The suburbs of Dahiyeh have been repeatedly targeted in Israeli strikes as it is widely recognised as a Hezbollah stronghold.

The family’s previous home in Dahiyeh’s Hay el-Selom, a 10-minute walk from Laylake, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in October.

Yet Fatima was warm and hopeful in early June, her hazel eyes still smiling from below her hijab while recounting the pain of loss, displacement and hardship.

Energetic and confident, she spoke expressively, using her hands as if she were on stage.

Like many Lebanese hosts, she offered drinks and an invitation for lunch while chatting about what it was like to feel under attack in Dahiyeh and whether that changed her relationship with her neighbourhood.

After her family’s home was destroyed and they fled to Aida’s, Fatima said, her sons, 24-year-old Hassan and 20-year-old Hussein, managed to salvage two wardrobes and a bed from the rubble along with other scraps from their lives there.

Proud of that small victory, Fatima flung open the bedroom doors to show off the two wardrobes restored to the point where it would be hard to guess they had been in a bombing. The rescued bed is used by one of her sons after getting new slats and a new lease on life.

“These are the most important pieces of furniture in the house,” she said, gently running her hand over one of the damaged surfaces.

“They’re historical [because they survived]. I was so happy we got them back.”

Hassan and Hussein found more in the rubble of their home: a stuffed toy that Hassan used to play with and a few of the books from their mother’s library.

As she spoke, Fatima held the stuffed toy in her hands, smiling and looking at it. Hussein was quietly observing his mother as she shared her thoughts.

“He used to sleep with it beside him every night,” Fatima recalled. “I couldn’t save much from their childhood after my divorce, but I kept this, and now it survived the war too.”

In her bedroom, a small table holds a stack of books about history, religion and culture – a fragment of what she once owned.

Scars, visible and invisible

From the living room balcony, the scars of war are visible. The top floors of a neighbouring building have been destroyed, the lower floors still standing – a daily reminder of what was lost.

Yet Fatima holds Dahiyeh dear and is determined to stay.

“I love the people here,” she said. “Everyone is kind. … Dahiyeh is home.”

Hussein agreed that he feels most at home in Dahiyeh with its strong sense of community and friends and neighbours all around.

During the war, he struggled emotionally, constantly stressed and getting into fights. He has seen two therapists but hasn’t felt much improvement.

Unlike his mother, Hussein is open to the idea of leaving Dahiyeh, but he pointed out practicalities – rents and the overall cost of living outside Dahiyeh are much higher if they could find a place to rent.

And, he said, they could face sectarian discrimination if they relocate.

The family had to leave Dahiyeh briefly during Israel’s war on Lebanon and sought shelter in the nearby coastal Beirut suburb of Jnah. Fatima still carries a painful memory from that time.

A Jnah grocery store owner snidely remarked: “Look at those trashy Shia people,” as he looked at newly arrived families dressed in the slippers and pyjamas they fled in.

The comment left a scar, and she refuses to leave Dahiyeh again.

“If war comes again, what do you teach the next generation?” she asked. “That it’s OK to give up your home? Or that you stand your ground?”

‘If it were just me, I’d stay’

While Fatima has chosen to stay in Dahiyeh, her 55-year-old sister, Iman, wants to leave.

Iman lives with her husband, Ali, a plastering foreman, and their four children: Hassan, 25, a programmer; Fatima, 19, a university student; and 16-year-old twins Mariam and Marwa, both in school.

All the children still share a single bedroom in their modest but light and joyful home.

The living room was full of laughter as Iman sat with Mariam and Hassan, passing around chocolate and juice while cousins chatted in the background.

There was teasing as they shared memories of fear, displacement and resilience.

Dahiyeh has never been entirely safe. Its history has been shaped by the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War and Israeli assaults, including the devastating 2006 war.

It’s a cycle, Iman said – another war, another wave of fear and displacement. During Israel’s most recent war on Lebanon, the family fled multiple times.

They first went to Kayfoun village in the Mount Lebanon governorate in late September, but tensions there were high, and a local man spread rumours of imminent Israeli strikes, trying to scare displaced families away.

They left Kayfoun after a week and fled to Tripoli in the north, where life was quieter and the presence of nearby relatives offered some comfort, but mistrust lingered.

Iman was often judged by her hijab, which marked her as “resistance-aligned” to people who blamed Hezbollah for Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

“We all became introverts,” Hassan recalled. “We stayed home most of the time, but we had relatives nearby and met some good friends. We’d sit together, play cards. It helped.”

In early October, they followed friends to Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, where they were welcomed warmly – more warmly, they said, than in parts of Lebanon.

After the ceasefire, they returned. “There’s no place better than our country,” Iman insisted, but Dahiyeh does not feel safe to her any more despite her deep ties to the neighbourhood, so she is searching for a new home – anywhere that’s safer.

“If it were just me, I’d stay,” she said. “But I have kids. I have to protect them.”

‘They don’t rent to Shia families’

Iman’s son Hassan recalls the first time Israel bombed near their apartment – on April 1 in breach of the November ceasefire.

“I just wanted out,” he said. “I don’t care where we go. Just somewhere that isn’t a target.”

But finding a new place to rent is far from simple.

They considered moving to Hazmieh. It is close to Dahiyeh but not part of it, making it relatively safer. And it would be closer to Iman’s sister Mariam, who lives there.

But Iman said: “In Hazmieh, most of them don’t rent to Shia families, or they would double the price.”

Despite the mounting fear, the family does not want to leave Lebanon, and Hassan has turned down a job offer abroad. They’re exhausted, they said, but not ready to abandon their country.

Even in the midst of war, Hassan said, his parents did not want to leave Dahiyeh. He had to work on convincing them to go first to Kayfoun, then eventually Iraq.

It was the same after the ceasefire with long discussions about whether to leave, and it was his mother’s fear for her children that made her eventually agree.

But more than a month after they spoke to Al Jazeera in early June, they’re still searching for a place that will take them and that they can afford.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are pleading for help as more people have starved to death under Israel’s unrelenting blockade of the coastal enclave.

The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Friday that local hospitals recorded nine new malnutrition deaths in the previous 24 hours.

That brings the total number of such deaths to 122 since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, including at least 83 children.

“We urgently demand an immediate end to the famine, the opening of all crossings, and the entry of infant formula now, along with 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily,” the Health Ministry said.

“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and other states complicit in this genocide—such as the UK, Germany, and France—as well as the international community at large, fully responsible for this historic crime.”

Sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, told Al Jazeera early on Saturday that a six-month-old infant also succumbed to starvation-related medical complications.

Starvation deaths have steadily increased in Gaza this week as Israel continues to maintain a strict blockade on the territory, preventing a steady flow of food, water, medicine and other supplies from reaching Palestinians.

The United Nations has warned that children are especially vulnerable as the crisis worsens.

Noor al-Shana, an independent journalist in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, told Al Jazeera that extreme hunger is affecting all aspects of life in the Strip.

She said she now struggles to find enough for one meal per day, while four of her relatives were killed while seeking food at aid distribution points run by the notorious Israel- and United States-backed GHF.

“The world is just saying ‘Free Palestine’ … We don’t want words, we want solutions,” she said.

“Enough, we are tired,” al-Shana added, fighting back tears. “We are suffocating. We are dying here.”

‘Deliberate mass starvation’

Separately, sources at hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least 38 people were killed by Israeli attacks across the enclave since the early hours of Friday morning.

Of that, at least six Palestinians were killed while trying to collect food at aid distribution sites.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Friday reiterated criticism of the GHF, calling it a “cruel” politically driven effort that “takes more lives than it saves”.

Lazzarini called for the UN agency’s aid stockpiles to be let into Gaza, warning that the enclave is suffering from “deliberate mass starvation”.

“Today, more children died, their bodies emaciated by hunger,” he said in a post on X. “The unfolding famine can only be reversed by a political will.”

The Israeli military has blamed international organisations for the crisis, claiming that aid trucks are inside Gaza but that the UN has refused to distribute the assistance.

UN officials have rejected that, saying repeatedly that they have not received the necessary approvals from the Israeli authorities to distribute the aid.

The UN and other humanitarian groups have also refused to work with the GHF aid distribution scheme, which they say does not adhere to humanitarian principles such as impartiality and independence.

As the crisis continues to spiral, United States President Donald Trump on Friday solely blamed Hamas for the apparent collapse of Gaza ceasefire talks, saying the group is going to be “hunted down”.

“Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

The US president’s comments came a day after his Middle East envoy said US negotiators had withdrawn from ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Hamas responded to the US’s announcement with surprise, saying on Thursday that it had submitted a positive and constructive response to the latest proposal it was offered.

Despite Hamas’s insistence that it is ready to work towards a deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel and the US are weighing ways to secure the release of captives in Gaza that do not depend on a negotiated agreement with the Palestinian group.

“Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region,” Netanyahu said.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 59,676 Palestinians and wounded 143,965 others. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks and more than 200 were taken captive.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, under pressure to recognise a Palestinian state, said he would do so only as part of a wider peace deal. His Labour-led government is facing growing calls to recognise a Palestinian state after France said it will and a cross-party group of parliamentarians urged Starmer to act before it is too late.

More than 200 lawmakers in the United Kingdom have called on the British government to recognise a Palestinian state, as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take concrete action amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

Some 221 MPs from across the political spectrum signed an open letter on Friday calling on Starmer’s Labour government to recognise a Palestinian state in advance of a United Nations conference on Palestine next week.

“We are expectant that the outcome of the conference will be the UK Government outlining when and how it will act on its long-standing commitment on a two-state solution; as well as how it will work with international partners to make this a reality,” the letter reads.

“Whilst we appreciate the UK does not have it in its power to bring about a free and independent Palestine, UK recognition would have a significant impact due to our historic connections and our membership on the UN Security Council, so we urge you to take this step.”

Parliamentarians from nine political parties were among the signatories, Labour MP Sarah Champion said, including Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, and the Greens.

The letter comes as public anger is growing in the UK and around the world over Israel’s continued bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has spurred a deadly starvation crisis.

221 MPs, from 9 parties, have sent a joint letter to the Prime Minister & Foreign Secretary urging them to recognise Palestine as a state now pic.twitter.com/b2hbX2XCGR

— Sarah Champion (@SarahChampionMP) July 25, 2025

It also comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise the State of Palestine at the UN in September.

“Consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron said in a social media post on Thursday.

“I will make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September. The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.”

Macron’s announcement drew the ire of Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the move “rewards terror”.

But Netanyahu has faced widespread condemnation for Israel’s continuing assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023.

Israel’s blockade of the enclave has caused a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations and top human rights groups reporting that many Palestinian children are now suffering from severe malnutrition and at risk of death.

In a statement on Friday, Starmer said “the appalling scenes in Gaza are unrelenting”.

“The continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel’s disproportionate military escalation in Gaza are all indefensible,” he said.

But Starmer stopped short of announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state, instead saying he was working “on a pathway to peace in the region”.

“That pathway will set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace,” he said.

“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Reporting from a protest outside Starmer’s residence in London on Friday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said demonstrators expressed “outrage” at the British government’s stance amid the dire situation in Gaza.

“Many of them feel powerless, so one of the only things they can do is gather here, make as much noise as they can, and hope that it will be noticed by the people in power,” she said.

“They want Keir Starmer to do more with the power that he has, and with the influence that he has, to put an end to this.”

In addition to recognising a Palestinian state, the British government has faced growing calls to sanction Israel and impose an arms embargo against the country.

Veselinovic said Starmer is in “a difficult diplomatic situation” as he prepares to meet United States President Donald Trump, who was travelling to Scotland on Friday.

She explained that Macron’s announcement added pressure on the UK, which is a close ally of both France and the US, to also recognise a Palestinian state, but noted that Trump has criticised the French president’s move.

“It does seem like a gulf is emerging here over what the European stance is overall, which is much more aligned with what UN aid agencies are saying is going on on the ground in Gaza, and the American position, which seems to nearly 100 percent back whatever is the Israeli government’s version of events is,” she said.

“And in the middle of that is Keir Starmer, who wants to maintain good relations with both sides.”

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah flown to Lebanon from France after incarceration ends.

France has released Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter jailed since 1984, and put him on a flight to Beirut after he spent nearly four decades behind bars.

Shortly before 3:40am (01:30 GMT) on Friday, a convoy of six vehicles with flashing lights was seen leaving the Lannemezan prison in southern France, according to journalists with the AFP news agency on the ground. A source confirmed the 74-year-old had been freed and later boarded a flight to Lebanon.

Abdallah, who was convicted in 1987 for his role in the killings of United States military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris, had long been eligible for release. However, repeated applications were rejected, often due to pressure from the US, which was a civil party in Abdallah’s case.

Last month, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in favour of his release, effective on Friday, on the condition that Abdallah leave French territory and never return.

His lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, told AFP that the former fighter appeared “very happy” during their final visit “even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations”.

Abdallah, the founder of the now-defunct Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions, had declared during a recent visit by a lawmaker that he remained a “militant with a struggle”. French police uncovered submachine guns and communication equipment in one of his flats at the time of his arrest.

Abdallah has never expressed regret for his actions and has always insisted he is a “fighter” who has battled for the rights of Palestinians and is not a “criminal”.

The Paris court described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed “no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts”.

The appeals court cited the length of Abdallah’s detention and his advanced age, calling his continued imprisonment “disproportionate”. In France, inmates serving life sentences are typically released after less than 30 years.

Abdallah’s family said they would greet him at Beirut’s airport before travelling to his hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon, where a reception has been planned.

US protest group Code Pink is targeting key politicians they say are involved in Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza. The group has previously targeted former President Joe Biden and Senator Lindsey Graham over their support for Israel’s war.

The bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities using advanced bombers and massive ordnance marked a turning point in Donald Trump’s presidency, a man who came to power vowing to end “endless wars” and to withdraw the U.S. from its role as global policeman. With the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the U.S. in June 2025, brokered by Oman under heavy international pressure, serious questions have emerged: Was the attack a tactical show of force meant to drag Iran back to the negotiating table, or a step toward broader conflict? Is Trump seeking lasting peace, or is he tempted by the drama of a military triumph? And can he leverage this fragile truce to return to diplomacy, or will he stay the course of escalation?

Trump entered the White House in 2016 by sharply criticizing the Iraq War and the massive costs of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East. He even justified the 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani as a measure to prevent war. At the time, he passionately declared, “We are no longer the world’s policeman.” But the June 2025 bombing campaign, nicknamed “Operation Midnight Hammer”, reflected a clear shift in his approach. The operation, which targeted Iran’s Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow sites, reportedly caused serious damage to the country’s nuclear program, according to U.S. sources. However, it was launched without congressional approval or broad international support.

Analysts believe several factors drove this decision: the perceived weakening of Iran following the depletion of its proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push for U.S. military involvement against Tehran; and Trump’s need for a symbolic military “win” to bolster his domestic position amid growing anti-immigration protests and waning support among younger Republicans.

Yet, the ceasefire announced on June 24, 2025, facilitated by Oman and quietly backed by European powers and China, signaled that Trump may still be looking to contain the conflict. Reactions to the attack and subsequent truce have revealed deep divisions among Trump’s base and the international community. Steve Bannon, a staunch Trump ally, criticized the move as a betrayal of his anti-war promises, saying it was exactly what Trump had pledged never to do. Conservative figure Charlie Kirk warned that such conflicts could quickly spiral out of control. On social media, Trump supporters voiced concern about military spending and the potential for a drawn-out entanglement. Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec stressed that young Republicans prioritize fixing America’s domestic problems, like the economic crisis and social instability, over military adventures in the Middle East.

Global reactions were even harsher. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the strike as a violation of international law. The International Atomic Energy Agency warned that attacks on nuclear sites could have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences.

The greater danger still looms. Bombing a country, without a ground invasion, rarely leads to peace. Iran, with its large population, complex military structure, and advanced missile and cyber capabilities, is not Iraq or Libya. A single miscalculation could unravel the ceasefire and plunge the region into deeper instability. If Iran retaliates, whether through asymmetric warfare or pressure on U.S. allies, the risk of escalation is high.

Trump still has the chance to change course. He could frame the strike as a final warning and use the ceasefire as a springboard back into diplomacy. A narrative like “We’ve shown our strength, now it’s time for peace” might resonate both domestically and abroad. But if he continues down the path of pressure, broadening the mission from containing Iran’s nuclear program to altering its behavior—or even regime change, he risks falling into the very trap he once called “the stupid wars of the Middle East.”

The success of the ceasefire and a return to diplomacy could solidify Trump’s legacy as a peacemaker. Its failure, however, may seal the end of his political career.

Israel’s leadership views its 12-day war with Iran last month as a success – several Iranian military leaders were killed, Iran’s defensive military capabilities were weakened, and the United States was convinced to take part in a raid on the Iranian nuclear site at Fordow.

But while Israeli leaders were quick to claim victory, they emphasised that they were ready to attack again if necessary, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had “no intention of easing off the gas pedal”.

And Israel is already looking for the next opportunity to wage another devastating conflict aimed at bringing down the Islamic Republic in Iran, analysts told Al Jazeera.

However, to do so, it would require the ‘permission’ of the US, which may not be willing to give it.

Back in mid-June, a surprise Israeli attack led to the war, in which more than 1,000 Iranians and 29 Israelis were killed.

Israel justified the war by claiming that it was acting preemptively and in “self-defence” to take out Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran has long said is for civilian purposes.

Speaking to Al Jazeera earlier this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed doubt over how long the current ceasefire will remain in place.

“We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again,” he said.

Cause for war

Despite Israel’s emphasis that it was targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, it mainly assassinated high-ranking government and military officials, indicating a clear attempt to weaken and possibly bring down the regime.

Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and the cofounder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, a left-wing US think tank, believes Netanyahu is looking for an opportunity to resume that mission.

“The reason the Israelis want to attack again … is because they want to make sure they turn Iran into the next Syria or Lebanon – countries Israel can attack anytime with impunity,” he told Al Jazeera.

Israel’s next opportunity to muster up a pretext for a war could come after European countries reimpose debilitating sanctions on Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reported to have held a call with his counterparts from Germany, France and the United Kingdom earlier in July, in which they agreed that United Nations Security Council sanctions would be reimposed if a new nuclear deal was not agreed upon by the end of August.

The sanctions had been lifted when Iran and several Western countries agreed on a nuclear deal in 2015.

The US pulled out of that deal two years into President Donald Trump’s first term in 2018 and restored sanctions as part of a maximum pressure campaign. Now, European parties to the deal could do the same, and that could prompt Iran to walk out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, warned Parsi.

“That would provide [Israel] with a political window to [attack again],” he told Al Jazeera.

Meir Javedanfar, Iran lecturer at Israel’s Reichman University, added that Israel would nevertheless have to muster up or present credible intelligence that suggests Iran is rebuilding or repairing its nuclear programme.

He warned that, “to launch such an attack, Israel would need the agreement of the United States and its President Trump”, permission he regarded as less likely in light of US concern over Israeli attacks on Syria.

Israeli operations

While Israeli strikes on Iran may not be imminent, a report in The New York Times on Wednesday suggests that it is carrying out covert operations responsible for sudden explosions and fires across the country.

The paper cited three informed officials and a European diplomat who attributed the apparently random fires and explosions at apartment complexes, oil refineries, near an airport and a shoe factory, to acts of sabotage likely carried out by Israel.

“I think Benjamin Netanyahu has found a formula where it is able to attack Iran with impunity despite pushback from Donald Trump,” said Negar Mortazavi, an expert on Iran with the Center for International Policy (CIP), a think tank based in Washington, DC.

Any ongoing covert operations are a result of Israel’s extensive infiltration of Iranian security and infrastructure that became apparent during the early stages of the June conflict, with individuals targeted through what was presumed to be teams of local intelligence operatives and drones launched against Iranian targets from within Iranian territory.

There was no evidence to suggest that Israel’s network within Iran had ended with the war, analyst and Iran expert Ori Goldberg said.

“Israel has built a robust [security] system within Iran and, like all such systems, its muscles need flexing occasionally,” he said from Tel Aviv. “Sometimes this isn’t for strategic reasons, so much as tactical ones. As soon as you have infrastructure or people in place within another country, you have a limited time to use them, so if that’s setting fires or setting detonations, it’s a way of keeping them active and letting Iran know they’re there.”

Likelihood of new war

Few could have predicted the complete absence of restraint with which Netanyahu, previously a figure considered to be somewhat averse to conflict, has attacked neighbouring states, Syria and Lebanon, as well as regional actors, such as Yemen and Iran, while maintaining his brutal assault upon Gaza.

But while a renewed offensive upon Israel’s historical bogeyman, Iran, might prove popular in the face of growing internal division over Israel’s war on Gaza, how well received it might be by his principal ally remains to be seen.

“Trump is a concern and Israel will want to keep on the right side of whatever line he’s drawn [on its actions],” Goldberg said. “But Iran is a consensus issue within Israel. People might argue about Gaza, but never Iran. If Netanyahu feels himself under threat, he’s going to want to crack the Iranian whip and unify people behind him.”

Iran, for its part, won’t be caught flat-footed a second time, say analysts.

Mortazavi told Al Jazeera that Iran is expecting Israel to continue its aggression, even as it still holds out hope to reach a deal on its nuclear programme through diplomacy.

“I think they know that a deal will reduce the chances of an Israeli attack,” she said.

At least 62 people have been killed, including 19 who were seeking aid, in Israeli attacks across Gaza, hospital sources told Al Jazeera, and two people died from malnutrition amid growing international outrage over Israel’s conduct in the war.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that at least 115 Palestinians have starved to death in the enclave since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths, which include many children, have been in recent weeks.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza in March and has only allowed a trickle of aid into the territory since late May, triggering a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation.

In a statement on Thursday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that “families are breaking down” amid the hunger crisis.

“Parents are too hungry to care for their children,” agency head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. “Those who reach UNRWA clinics don’t have the energy, food or means to follow medical advice”.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, added that Israel has been preventing it from verifying aid waiting at distribution centres.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the situation was deteriorating, with Palestinians clamouring for any aid they can find.

“Enforced starvation, enforced dehydration, and hunger are gripping the Gaza Strip, with more people reported with malnutrition and a severe, acute shortage of food supplies and other basic necessities,” he said.

“According to what we hear from health sources, people’s immune systems are falling apart. They’re unable to fight the many diseases that are spreading because their bodies are unable to fight,” he said.

With dire conditions on the ground largely unchanged, international condemnation has continued to grow.

On Thursday, more than 60 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) demanded an emergency meeting to push actions against Israel in a letter sent to European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Lynn Boylan, an Irish member of the European Parliament, accused EU leaders of a double standard when it comes to Palestinian lives.

“Clearly, Palestinian lives are not seen by the elite in the EU as equivalent to, for example, Ukrainian lives,” Boylan told Al Jazeera.

“There’s a chilling effect, that if you dare to speak up against Israel, if you dare to call out the war crimes that you’re witnessing, there is immediately a backlash and an attack,” she said.

Outrage among European leaders has also soared in recent days, with 28 countries earlier this week condemning the aid blockade, while calling for an immediate end to the fighting.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom’s government announced Prime Minister Keir Starmer would hold a call with his German and French counterparts, to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need”.

Breakdown in talks

As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to spiral, negotiations to end the war again broke down, with US envoy Steve Witkoff announcing that his team was leaving negotiations in Qatar early.

That came shortly after Israel announced it was withdrawing its delegation from the talks.

In a statement, Witkoff accused Hamas of showing “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire”.

“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said, without elaborating.

Hamas, which has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement, said it was surprised by Witkoff’s remarks.

“The movement affirms its keenness to continue negotiations and engage in them in a manner that helps overcome obstacles and leads to a permanent ceasefire agreement,” said Hamas in a statement released late on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has continued to push for a deal, while simultaneously supporting the displacement of Palestinians from the enclave to nearby countries, in what would potentially constitute ethnic cleansing.

France to recognise Palestine

Late on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would officially recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Macron said the decision was “in keeping with [France’s] historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East”.

The move will make France the largest and arguably most influential country in Europe to recognise a Palestinian state.

The move was hailed by the deputy of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said it showed France’s “commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state”.

Israeli officials swiftly condemned the move, with Defence Minister Israel Katz calling it a “disgrace and a surrender to terrorism”.

“We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel,” he said.

WASHINGTON — As the United Nations and global aid groups sound the alarm of widening starvation resulting from U.S.-backed Israeli food distribution policies in the Gaza Strip, the Trump administration said Thursday it is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiating team home from Qatar to discuss next steps.

The apparent derailing of the talks comes as Israel’s blockade and military offensive have driven Gaza to the brink of famine, according to aid groups. The U.N. food agency says nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe, acute malnutrition, and the Gaza Health Ministry has reported a rise in hunger-related deaths.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would hold an emergency call Friday with officials from Germany and France to discuss how to urgently get food to people in need and pursue a plan to build a lasting peace.

“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,” he said in a statement. The three European countries “all agree on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow the aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay.”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France would recognize Palestine as a state, saying, “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.

“Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,” Macron posted. “Peace is possible.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

Israel has come under mounting pressure, with 28 Western-aligned countries calling for an end to the war and harshly criticizing Israel’s blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. More than 100 charity and human rights groups released a similar letter, saying even their own staff are struggling to get enough food.

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.

The U.S. and Israel rejected the allegations and blamed Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting their terms for a ceasefire.

Hamas’ latest response “shows a lack of desire” to reach a truce, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday.

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff said in a statement. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott would not offer details on what “alternative options” the U.S. is considering to free hostages held by the militant group.

A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas following 21 months of war has eluded the Trump administration as humanitarian conditions worsen in Gaza. Thursday’s move is the latest setback as Trump has tried to position himself as peacemaker and vowed to broker agreements in conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza.

Israeli troops Wednesday at the border with the Gaza Strip.

(Jack Guez / AFP / Getty Images)

Israel says it is allowing in enough aid and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. But those agencies say it is nearly impossible to safely deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of law and order, with crowds of thousands unloading food trucks as soon as they move into Gaza.

A separate Israeli- and U.S.-backed system run by an American contractor has also been marred by chaos.

“Of course, we want to see the end of devastation that is taking place in Gaza,” Pigott said. “That is why we have supported the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That is why we’ve seen those 90 million meals being distributed.”

When pressed on whether and how the U.S. would proceed on seeking a truce in Gaza, Pigott did not offer clarity and told reporters that “this is a very dynamic situation.”

He said there’s never been a question of the U.S. commitment to reaching a ceasefire and faulted Hamas.

The sides have held weeks of talks in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress but no major breakthroughs. Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place.

Witkoff said the U.S. is “resolute” in seeking an end to the conflict in Gaza and it was “a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way.”

The White House and representatives for Hamas had no immediate comment.

Macron, in making his announcement Thursday recognizing Palestinian statehood, posted a letter he sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about his decision.

The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism. But he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel’s war in Gaza, especially in recent months.

France is the biggest and most powerful European country to recognize Palestine. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

France has Europe’s largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, and fighting in the Middle East often spills over into protests or other tensions in France.

Israel also calls back its negotiators

Earlier Thursday, Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s office recalled his negotiating team in light of Hamas’ response. In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office expressed appreciation for the efforts of Witkoff and other mediators Qatar and Egypt but gave no further details.

The deal under discussion was expected to include an initial 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 ceasefire.

The talks have been bogged down over competing demands for ending the war. Hamas says it will only release all hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the conflict until Hamas gives up power and disarms. The militant group says it is prepared to leave power but not surrender its weapons.

Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in different locations, including tunnels, and says it has ordered its guards to kill them if Israeli forces approach.

Trump has been pushing for peace

Trump has made little secret of the fact he wants to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. For instance, he has promised to quickly negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but little progress has been made.

On the war in Gaza, Trump met with Netanyahu at the White House this month, putting his weight behind a push to reach a deal.

But despite a partnership further solidified by their countries’ joint strikes on Iran, the Israeli leader left Washington without any breakthrough.

The State Department had said earlier in the week that Witkoff would be traveling to the Middle East for talks, but U.S. officials later said that Witkoff would instead travel to Europe. It was unclear if he held meetings there Thursday.

Price and Krauss write for the Associated Press. Krauss reported from Ottawa, Canada. AP writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

July 24 (UPI) — The United States has recalled its negotiators in Gaza hostage talks after the latest response from Hamas “clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a cease-fire,” U.S. Mideast Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday.

Negotiators were meeting in Doha and Witkoff said the parties will pursue “alternative options” following the Hamas response in the latest round of negotiations.

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff continued in a statement.

“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza. It’s a shame Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and permanent peace in Gaza,” he said.

Israel has also recalled its team of negotiators, but an Israeli negotiator said the talks did not “collapse.”

There was no immediate response from Hamas.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff accuses Palestinian group of showing ‘a lack of desire’ to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said he is cutting short talks aimed at reaching a truce in Israel’s war on Gaza, after the latest proposal from Hamas showed “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire”.

Witkoff made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, just hours after the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had also recalled its negotiating team from Qatar amid the latest diplomatic flurry.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas. The group has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement.

Earlier in the day, Hamas had submitted its latest response to a ceasefire framework floated by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US. Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the response, and said it was under review. Neither side disclosed the contents.

Both Israel and Hamas are facing growing international pressure to reach an agreement as the humanitarian and hunger crisis in the territory continues to deteriorate sharply amid Israel’s severe restrictions on the entry of aid.

At least 115 people have died from malnutrition since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, mostly in recent weeks, as the United Nations and aid agencies have warned that Gaza’s residents were facing mass starvation.

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff said in a statement.

“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said, without elaborating.

Witkoff, a businessman with no formal diplomatic experience prior to his appointment, said the US remains “resolute” in seeking an end to the war in Gaza, adding it was “a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way”.

The current proposal under discussion has been reported to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living captives and the remains of 18 others. In turn, Palestinians imprisoned by Israel would be released and aid supplies would be ramped up as the two sides held negotiations on a lasting truce.

Details of the current sticking point were not immediately clear, but officials from both sides have previously pointed to a dispute over what would happen in the wake of any new ceasefire.

Israel has repeatedly said it plans to deploy the military long term in Gaza, seeking a complete defeat of Hamas, despite warnings that such a goal is unrealistic.

Earlier this month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reportedly laid out a plan for the forced transfer of Palestinians to a “humanitarian city” within Gaza, a maximalist approach that critics say would violate international law.

Israel’s government has also faced domestic pressure over the plan, amid fears it would foreclose ceasefire negotiations and block the release of captives still held in Gaza.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi said it remained unclear whether the US withdrawal from the talks was a “negotiating tactic”.

“It’s a very sternly worded tweet, talking about ‘alternative options for a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,’” he said.

“We know that Trump simply hasn’t ruled out ethnic cleansing, so-called ‘self deportation’, in his words, of Palestinians.”

“Right now, we simply don’t know whether it’s a negotiating position or the end of the negotiations,” Rattansi said.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 59,587 Palestinians since it began in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1,139 people.

This week, more than 100 aid groups blamed Israel’s restrictions on aid for “mass starvation” in the enclave.

Washington, DC – Josephine Guilbeau’s voice remained steady as it rose with anger and frustration outside the United States Capitol while she described the Israeli-imposed hunger crisis in Gaza.

“The level of evil that it takes to make a decision to starve a baby as a means of war, as a weapon of war – what have we come to as a humanity? What have we come to as a country?” the 17-year US Army veteran said on Thursday.

Guilbeau had joined several fellow veterans, doctors, former officials and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in calling on the lawmakers and President Donald Trump to listen to the US public and end unconditional support for Israel.

The advocates banged on empty pots outside the Capitol to draw attention to the starvation in Gaza, where many have not eaten in days and more than 100 have died of hunger due to the Israeli blockade, according to United Nations agencies and local health officials.

Holding photos of famished Palestinian children, doctors and veterans stressed the US role in enabling Israel’s conduct through military aid, weapons provision and diplomatic support.

Tlaib called on her colleagues in Congress to join their constituents in opposing Israeli atrocities.

Recent public opinion polls have shown growing US public discontent with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, but Congress remains staunchly supportive of Israel on a bipartisan basis.

“Americans serving in Congress, wake up because the American people are telling you over and over again: We’re not in support of this,” Tlaib told reporters outside the US Capitol.

“So maybe for once, would you listen to your constituency? Poll them like you like you poll everything else. They will tell you they do not want one goddamn freaking dime going to starve a whole people.”

‘Stop enabling the genocide’

Tlaib appeared to criticise a vote by her progressive ally Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against a measure to stop $500m in missile defence aid to Israel.

Only six lawmakers voted in favour of the amendment, introduced by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, last week.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of 422 legislators to vote against the proposal, argued that cutting off “defensive” aid to Israel does not help end the bombardment of Palestinians.

Tlaib, however, suggested on Thursday that she is not convinced by that justification.

“No matter what weapons – I don’t care if it’s offensive or defensive, whatever you call it – let’s stop enabling the genocide,” the Palestinian American congresswoman said.

Although Ocasio-Cortez has described Israel’s war on Gaza as genocide and supported measures to restrict arms to Israel, her vote last week stirred a backlash from left-wing activists who said any weapons to Israel would enable its bombardment campaign against Palestinians.

Washington provides Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance annually despite allegations of rights violations that would make the country ineligible for security aid under US law.

UN experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Stacy Gilbert, who resigned from the US Department of State last year after a 20-year career in protest to a government report denying that Israel is blocking aid to Palestinians, said on Thursday that the starvation in Gaza is the result of a “deliberate” decision by Israel.

“I am calling on Trump to make a break with this policy that started under Joe Biden, this disastrous policy of unconditional military support for Israel,” Gilbert told reporters.

Doctor says Trump ‘failed’ supporters

Nidal Jboor, a Michigan-based physician with the advocacy group Doctors Against Genocide, also warned Trump against following the same policies as his predecessor, stressing that the US president has the power and leverage to end the war.

“If you don’t stop it today, then you are as sleepy as Joe was. It’s your call,” Jboor said, invoking Trump’s moniker for Biden, “Sleepy Joe”.

“This is not who we are. Americans are better than this. What we are supporting in Gaza does not make America great again. Shut down the killing zone. Flood Gaza with aid. End the genocide. History will remember at this point and this moment what we did and what we failed to do.”

During the election race last year, Trump courted the sizable Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan with promises of bringing peace to the region.

The US president initially took credit for a truce that came into effect in January. But shortly after taking office earlier this year, he proposed removing all Palestinians from Gaza – a plan that rights advocates say would amount to ethnic cleansing, a crime against humanity.

Moreover, he has continued to arm Israel, and his administration has backed Israel’s resumption of the war in March, the siege on Gaza and the upending of the aid system in the territory.

Jboor said Trump “failed” his Arab and Muslim supporters.

“People were voting for him because he promised peace, and now he’s breaking his promises,” the doctor told Al Jazeera.

US touts GHF

In May, the US and Israel launched an initiative to monopolise aid distribution through a private entity, dubbed GHF.

But Palestinians and rights groups have described GHF aid distribution sites, concentrated in the south of Gaza, deep inside areas under Israeli army control, as death traps.

Israeli troops have been opening fire daily at aid seekers, killing hundreds of people.

While the US proudly proclaims that GHF has distributed 90 million meals since May, the tally amounts to a fraction of the food needed to feed the territory’s two million people.

In recent weeks, Israel has allowed some aid convoys to enter the north of Gaza, but the assistance trucks have also come under Israeli firing and shelling there, as well.

Despite the bloodshed, the US has been touting the GHF operation as a success, reiterating false claims that Hamas steals aid distributed through the UN and its partner organisations.

Asked about the hunger spreading in Gaza, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters on Thursday that the US is “aware” of the humanitarian situation in the territory and wants to see an end to the devastation.

“That’s why we have seen this commitment to get aid to the people who need it, in a way where it is not weaponised by Hamas,” Pigott added, referring to GHF.

Shortly before Pigott expressed continuing support for GHF, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu appeared to confirm that his country is purposely starving Gaza, saying that “there is no nation that feeds its enemies.”

“The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out,” Eliyahu said in a radio interview, according to The Times of Israel.

Back on Capitol Hill, the advocates appeared confident that their voices could make a difference, even after 22 months of war that have seen the crisis deepen and the death toll mount daily.

“Every single voice is so powerful to move the needle; we have to change the minds of our leaders and make them understand that if they do not stop funding Israel, we will vote them out,” Guilbeau, the US Army veteran, told Al Jazeera.