AP – Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo for talks focusing on Egypt’s plan to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, hoping to counter United States (US) President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from the coastal enclave and take it over.
Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the second phase. Mediators Egypt and Qatar accused Israel of violating humanitarian law by using starvation as a weapon against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are deeply concerned that their already dire situation will get much worse now that Israel has cut off all food and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
“This is a decision of genocide … Our children are being starved,” said a displaced man from Rafah Mohammed Abu Shalhoub who was waiting alongside dozens of people to receive a hot meal from a charity in the Muwasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis.
He urged other countries to pressure Israel to give Palestinians their most basic rights: “food, clothing, and drink – nothing more.”
A displaced woman, Umm Akram Shalhoub, said Israel’s decision to cut off aid was “an execution”.
The war has displaced at least 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of over two million and left them dependent on international aid.
Foods like flour and vegetables are 100 times more expensive in Gaza than before Israel halted all food from entering a day earlier, the United Nations (UN) said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the price increases were reported by the UN’s humanitarian partners on the ground on Monday who are currently assessing stocks that are still available in the Gaza Strip. Dujarric said the UN has not received reports that militants or other groups were diverting aid meant for civilians. “What we have seen since the ceasefire is a much freer and more direct flow of aid, and we have not seen any of the looting that we had seen prior to the ceasefire,” he told reporters.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of selling aid and preventing Palestinians from getting it. Meanwhile, Chaos erupted in the Israeli parliament on Monday when security guards scuffled with relatives of people killed or taken hostage in the Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Relatives of people killed tried to enter the Parliament hall as Netanyahu appeared for a debate about a governmental inquiry into the events of October 2023. Security guards blocked them from entering the observation area. Some family members wailed in frustration and grief before the two sides began pushing and hitting one another outside the hall, including on a crowded stairwell.
“You are hitting bereaved parents!” one person screamed in footage of the episode released by the October Council, a group representing the families. “Our children were killed and murdered!” One family member fainted, according to Israeli media. A spokesperson for Israel’s Parliament said too many people had attempted to enter the hall and they would examine the episode.
