Mother, newborn among at least 78 killed in Israeli strikes as some aid trickles in to Gaza
Gaza aid must be 'continuous, scalable' to avert risk of more deaths from hunger, says UN agency
Israeli strikes killed at least 78 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory.
The dead included a newborn who was delivered in a complex surgery after his mother, who was seven months pregnant, was killed in a strike, according to the Nasser Hospital.
Dozens were killed while seeking food, even as Israel moved to ease restrictions on the entry of aid.
Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and al-Mawasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery.
Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures.
Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
As of Monday, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 14 people had died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the war's death toll from hunger to 147, including 89 children, most in just the last few weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that no one in Gaza is starving. "There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza," he said. "We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza — otherwise, there would be no Gazans."
But images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he disagrees with Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza, noting the images emerging of emaciated people: "Those children look very hungry."
Netanyahu later on Monday described the situation in Gaza as "difficult," saying his country was working to ensure aid delivery to the besieged strip.
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine to pressure Hamas to free hostages.
Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new U.S. and Israeli-backed aid delivery system that has been racked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers also have encountered a similar breakdown in law and order surrounding their aid deliveries.
More long-term steady aid supply needed
A long-term steady supply of aid is needed to counter the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, UN agencies said on Monday after mounting pressure prompted Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian enclave.
The World Food Program (WFP) said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched but that this amount fell short of Gaza's needs.
"Sixty is definitely not enough. So our target at the moment, every day, is to get 100 trucks into Gaza," Samer AbdelJaber, the WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, told Reuters.
The WFP said that almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments.
"I cannot say that in a week we will be able to really avert the risks. It has to be something continuous and scalable," AbdelJaber said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that though Canada welcomes early steps by Israel to widen aid delivery channels in Gaza, they need to be expanded.
Trump promises 'food centres' with no fences
On Monday, Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Netanyahu about "various plans" to free hostages still held in the enclave.
Trump also said the U.S. would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation.
"We're going to set up food centres," with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump told reporters after a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump's remarks came as dozens of ministers gathered at the United Nations for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the U.S. and Israel are boycotting the event.
France called on the European Union to pressure Israel to agree to a two-state solution with the Palestinians, the latest escalation from the French as they seek an end to the deadly Gaza war days after pledging to recognize Palestine as a state.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, told reporters at the UN that while there is international consensus that the time for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now, world powers need to back up their words with actions.
"The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has to express its expectations and show the means that we can incentivize the Israeli government to hear this appeal," he said.
More Palestinians killed near aid hubs
Most of Gaza's population now relies on aid. Accessing food has become a challenge that some Palestinians have risked their lives for.
The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians it said were killed Monday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The pregnant woman and her child were killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the al-Mawasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, according to a hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Another strike hit a two-storey house in Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to local hospitals.
In the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas still holds 50 hostages, and Israel believes more than half of those to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
With files from CBC News and Reuters