Middle East: Gaza famine 'playing out' — UN-backed monitor

Israel's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday rejected the UK's announcement that it would recognize Palestinian statehood if a ceasefire was not reached in Gaza, saying London's position rewarded Hamas and its attacks on Israel.

"The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages," the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X.

UN Secretary-General  Antonio Guterres said the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip needed to be vastly increased.

"The facts are in — and they are undeniable," he said. "Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. The trickle of aid must become an ocean."

Guterres made the statement after an alert was issued by a UN-backed monitor that a "worst-case scenario of famine" was unfolding in Gaza. 

Guterres said the alert "confirms what we have feared: Gaza is on the brink of famine."

"This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes," Guterres said in a statement posted on X.

He again called for food, water, medicine and fuel to enter Gaza "without obstruction."

The UK will recognize Palestinian statehood in September unless the Israeli government takes significant steps to end the "appalling situation" in Gaza and meets other conditions, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday, according to a government statement.

Starmer called on the Israeli government to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, make clear there is no annexation of the West Bank and commit to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution, according to Downing Street.

Read more on why the UK will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel halts its campaign in Gaza.

France on Tuesday described violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli settlers as "terrorism" after the death of a Palestinian activist who was involved in an Oscar-winning documentary.

Palestinian authorities said Awdah Muhammad Hathaleen, a teacher, was killed by Israeli settlers on Monday. The Israeli police say they are investigating the incident and have made an arrest.

"France condemns this murder with the utmost firmness as well as all deliberate acts of violence committed by extremist settlers against the Palestinian population, which are multiplying across the West Bank," a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "These acts of violence are acts of terrorism."

Hathaleen lived in Masafer Yatta, a group of villages south of Hebron in the West Bank, in what has been declared a military zone by Israel.

He contributed to the film "No Other Land," which was about the residents' attempts to stop Israeli forces from destroying their homes. The film won the Best Documentary prize at the Oscars in March 2025.

Its Israeli co-director, Yuval Abraham, wrote: "An Israeli settler just shot [Awdah Hathaleen] in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film 'No Other Land' in Masafer Yatta."

About 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside nearly half a million Israelis living in settlements that are considered illegal under international law. Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has surged since Israel began its offensive in the other Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, in October 2023.      
       

Several UN aid agencies on Tuesday called for Gaza to be "flooded" with food aid, warning that "time is running out" for Gaza. 

The joint statement was made by the World Food Programme (WFP), children's aid organization UNICEF, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

They said food consumption and acute malnutrition indicators had reached their worst level since the conflict began and that "more than 500,000 people" are living in famine-like conditions. 

"The unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said. "We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation."

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said, "Emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza." 

Despite a partial reopening of crossings, the groups said, "Humanitarian aid entering Gaza is barely a trickle of what a population of over two million people needs every month."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has summoned the Dutch ambassador after the Netherlands barred entry to two Israeli ministers earlier today. 

The Dutch travel ban applies to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that two German aircraft could fly aid airdrop missions from Jordan to Gaza as soon as Wednesday.

Speaking alongside Jordan's King Abdullah, Merz said two A400M military transport planes were already headed to Jordan and would be ready to fly aid missions by the weekend at the latest.

"This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region," Merz said.

Merz also welcomed initial steps taken by Israel to allow some aid into the Palestinian enclave but said more must follow.

Merz told the Berlin press conference that foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK would possibly travel to Israel next Thursday "to present the position of... the three governments." 

Global food crisis experts have warned that famine conditions are developing in Gaza amid the Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory.

British Prime MinisterKeir Starmer has recalled his ministers from the summer break to discuss a Gaza peace plan. 

This comes as Starmer is increasingly under pressure from his own party to recognize a Palestinian state, a move that was included in the Labour Party's election-winning manifesto last year. 

The UK plan is said to focus on achieving "sustainable peace" while outlining conditions needed to recognize a Palestinian State. 

Last week Starmer said he is "working on a pathway to peace" that will "set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace."

"Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that," he added.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the conditions could include a ceasefire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages. So far, the UK has said "there can be no role for Hamas."

Starmer is expected to present the plan to France and Germany in the coming days, according to the Daily Telegraph. 

The British leader is believed to have already discussed the plan with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Scotland on Monday. 

Last week, France became the first G7 country to announce it would recognize a Palestinian state. 

Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed during the 21-month war in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. 

It said women and children make up around half of the dead.

The United Nations consider the ministry's figures are the most reliable count of casualties. Independent studies have found that the death toll is likely underreported. 

The Netherlands has said Israel's far-right finance and national security ministers are now personae non gratae for statements they have made seeming to incite violence and urge ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

The measure applies to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

"They repeatedly incited settler violence against Palestinians, promoted illegal settlement expansion, and called for ethnic cleansing in Gaza," Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told parliament in a letter released late on Monday.

Smotrich responded on X, formerly Twitter, by saying European leaders had succumbed to "the lies of radical Islam that is taking over" and "rising antisemitism."

Ben-Gvir said he would continue to act for Israel, even if he was banned from entering "all of Europe."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said stopping his country's offensive against Hamas while the group was still in power in Gaza would be a "tragedy" for all, rejecting international pressure for a ceasefire as a "distorted campaign." 

"It ain't gonna happen, no matter how much pressure is put on Israel," he told reporters in Jerusalem.

Saar said that Hamas was solely responsible for the conflict and that pressure on Israel would encourage the militant group to become more hard-line.

The minister also slammed moves by some countries, including France, to restart efforts for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Establishing a Palestinian state today is establishing a Hamas state, a jihadist state. It ain't gonna happen," Saar said.

International pressure has been rising in recent weeks for a ceasefire to allow aid agencies to enter Gaza with food supplies and avert what many experts say is a nascent famine.
     

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz is hosting Jordan's King Abdullah II in Berlin on Tuesday for talks not only on bilateral ties but also on regional issues.

Their meeting comes as a survey shows that around three-quarters of German residents would like to see the federal government take a tougher stance towards Israel over its conflict against Hamas in Gaza.

You can read more over at our Germany blog.

 

The top international authority on food crises issued a new alert on the situation in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, warning that there could be "widespread death" by starvation if immediate action is not taken.

The "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," the Intergrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said.

The alert falls short of being a formal famine declaration but comes amid growing pressure on Israel to take measures to prevent the reported widespread starvation in the Palestinian enclave amid Israel's offensive against the militant group Hamas.

The lack of external access to Gaza stands in the way of a formal famine declaration, which is rare.

However, according to the World Food Program, one in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, while hospitals are reporting a surge in hunger-related deaths in children under five. 

We will be reporting here on events across the Middle East, with a particular focus on Gaza as international pressure grows on Israel over its offensive in the Palestinian enclave, where hundreds of thousands are at risk of death by starvation.

In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss ways of bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In this blog, DW will bring you up-to-date reports, correspondents' analyses and explainers on the situation in Gaza and beyond at a time of intense regional turmoil.