![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4255.jpg\")
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a conference in Jerusalem last week Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Channel 12 cited an official from his office as saying that Netanyahu was inclining towards expanding the offensive and seizing the entire Palestinian enclave.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, a UN expert who first warned that Israel<\/a> was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza more than 500 days ago, has said that governments and corporations cannot claim to be surprised at the horror now unfolding<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it\u2019s always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024,\u201d Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Israel has been widely accused of using food as a political weapon and of flagrantly breaking international law by collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza by its aid blockade.<\/p>\n Aid organisations were bringing somewhere between 500 and 600 trucks a day into Gaza<\/a> during the ceasefire earlier this year, but now Israeli restrictions mean only a trickle of aid is being allowed into the territory (only 36 aid trucks entered on Saturday, for example, according to Gaza\u2019s government media office).<\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison<\/a>, has broken down in great detail how Israel has deliberately caused a famine in Gaza. Here is an extract from her piece<\/a>:<\/p>\n The mathematics of famine are simple in Gaza. Palestinians cannot leave, war has ended farming and Israel has banned fishing, so practically every calorie its population eats must be brought in from outside.<\/p>\n Israel knows how much food is needed. It has been calibrating hunger in Gaza for decades, initially calculating shipments to exert pressure while avoiding starvation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,\u201d a senior adviser to the then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in 2006\u2026<\/p>\n Data compiled and published by Israel\u2019s own government makes clear that it has been starving Gaza. Between March and June, Israel allowed just 56,000 tonnes of food to enter the territory, Cogat records show, less than a quarter of Gaza\u2019s minimum needs for that period.<\/p>\n Even if every bag of UN flour had been collected and handed out, and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had developed safe systems for equitable distribution, starvation was inevitable. Palestinians did not have enough to eat.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Palestinian children wait to receive hot meals in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Saeed M M T Jaras\/Anadolu via Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Israel will partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza<\/strong> to reduce its reliance on humanitarian aid, the defence ministry civil affairs agency for the Palestinian territories<\/a> said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of formulating the mechanism, a limited number of local merchants<\/strong> were approved by the defence establishment, subject to several criteria and strict security screening,\u201d Cogat said.<\/p>\n Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March, partially lifted in May to allow a US-backed private agency to open food distribution centres<\/strong> but hundreds of Palestinians have since been killed around the sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).<\/p>\n As Agence France-Presse reports, aid convoys and airdrops by Arab and European militaries resumed last month, as UN-mandated expert reports warned famine was unfolding<\/strong> in the war-torn territory.<\/p>\n The Cogat statement, posted on X<\/a>, said private sector deliveries would be paid for by monitored bank transfers and be subject to inspections by the Israeli military before entering Gaza, \u201cto prevent the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n Permitted goods under the new mechanism will include food staples, fruit, vegetables, baby formula and hygiene products, Cogat said.<\/p>\n It is not clear how much trade will be involved. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza<\/a> needs about 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements \u2013 the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.09 EDT<\/p>\n New images of two skeletal hostages<\/strong> have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong> to reach a ceasefire, even as his government considers another expansion of the war, which has already destroyed much of Gaza and pushed it toward famine.<\/p>\n In the video released by the Islamic Jihad militant group, Rom Braslavski says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. In another video, released by Hamas, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food.<\/p>\n The footage has stirred condemnation. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was \u201cvery shocked\u201d by the videos, Associated Press reports.<\/p>\n The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was \u201cappalled<\/strong> by the harrowing videos\u201d and called for access to the hostages.<\/p>\n Hamas said it is ready to respond \u201cpositively\u201d to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries<\/strong> are opened in a \u201cregular and permanent manner\u201d in Gaza. It denied starving the hostages, saying they suffer from the same hunger as ordinary Palestinians.<\/p>\n Ofir Braslavski said that in the video of his son, the captors appear to be well-fed. \u201cThis hunger is on purpose,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Israel has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the hostages, which will take place on Tuesday. Israel\u2019s goreign minister, Gideon Saar, said he will travel to New York for the meeting.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.45 EDT<\/p>\n Opening summary: Netanyahu to meet security cabinet to decide on next steps<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this week to decide on Israel\u2019s next steps in Gaza following the collapse of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas, with one senior Israeli source suggesting more force could be an option.<\/p>\n On Saturday, during a visit to the country, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had said he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n But Israeli officials have also floated ideas that include expanding the military offensive in Gaza<\/a> and annexing parts of the shattered enclave.<\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a conference in Jerusalem last week Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Channel 12 cited an official from his office as saying that Netanyahu was inclining towards expanding the offensive and seizing the entire Palestinian enclave.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, a UN expert who first warned that Israel<\/a> was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza more than 500 days ago, has said that governments and corporations cannot claim to be surprised at the horror now unfolding<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it\u2019s always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024,\u201d Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n