Gaza faces 'imminent risk of famine' amid Israel's attacks

The United Nations has warned that Israel's war was pushing Gaza towards famine, ahead of an expected Security Council vote on Friday on a resolution to boost aid to the Palestinian territory but not call for a ceasefire.

The entire population of Gaza faces "an imminent risk of famine", according to a UN-backed global hunger monitoring system on Thursday, with more than half a million people facing "catastrophic conditions".

"We have been warning for weeks that, with such deprivation and destruction, each day that goes by will only bring more hunger, disease and despair to the people of Gaza," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Separate diplomatic efforts were also underway for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war, which killed at least 20,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7.

With conditions deteriorating in the territory, the UN Security Council has been locked in negotiations on a resolution that would boost aid deliveries.

The latest draft seen by AFP, set to face a vote Friday, calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

It does not call for an immediate ceasfire.

'Enough is enough'

The UN estimates 1.9 million Gazans are now displaced, out of a population of 2.4 million.

With their homes destroyed, they are living in crowded shelters and struggling to find food, fuel, water and medical supplies. Diseases are spreading, and communications have been repeatedly cut.

Displaced Gaza residents are pleading for a ceasefire.

"My message is to put an end to this humiliation," said Fuad Ibrahim Wadi, who found refuge at a greenhouse in Rafah. "This war does nothing but destroy. Enough is enough."

After weeks of pressure, Israel approved the temporary reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday to enable aid deliveries directly to besieged Gaza rather than through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.

However, on Thursday, an Israeli strike hit the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom, the crossings authority and the Palestinian health ministry said.

The UN secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, was "unable to receive (aid) trucks" via Kerem Shalom following the "drone strike" and that the World Food Programme had suspended operations at the crossing.

According to the UN, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza is well below the daily pre-war average.