Israel-Gaza latest: Netanyahu says all of Gaza will be under Israeli control ‘in the end’
UN says it has been unable to distribute food to Gaza despite Israel lifting an 11-week blockade
Benjamin Netanyahu has said that all of the Gaza Strip will be under Israeli security control “in the end”, as dozens more Palestinians are killed in Israeli attacks.
On Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister told a press conference that the entire enclave would come under Israeli control eventually, and that Israel had probably killed Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar after a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month.
The statement comes as Netanyahu is facing growing international pressure, as the UN warns no humanitarian aid has reached starving Palestinians in Gaza yet - even after an 11-week blockade was lifted this week.
Hospital officials said on Wednesday that a newborn baby and several women are among at least 82 people who have been killed in Gaza after Israeli strikes overnight.
A nurse has said conditions at Nasser Hospital are “beyond critical” and the hospital that was once a “major lifeline” is now barely functioning.
“Many patients die simply because we cannot treat them in time,” the nurse, called Ahmad, told The Independent.
Meanwhile, the UK government is facing pressure to sanction ministers in Israel’s government.
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Top EU diplomat calls for Israeli investigation after warning shots fired at diplomats
The European Union’s top diplomat has called for a full investigation by the Israeli Defence Force after video emerged of IDF troops firing warning shots as foreign diplomats toured Jenin this morning.
“Any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable. Israel is also a signatory to the Vienna Convention — the obligation to guarantee the security of all foreign diplomats,” she said at an EU-African press conference, the Times of Israel reports.
The Italian government also demanded an explanation, saying that its vice consul was among those who came under fire.
Jenin has been the site of Israel's widespread crackdown against West Bank militants since earlier this year.
In pictures: Palestinians queue for food
Palestinians have queued for food on Wednesday amid an ongoing shortage of food and necessities following an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid.
While Israel says it has let dozens of aid trucks into Gaza, as of Tuesday evening the UN said they had been unable to distribute the essentials.
'No flour, no food, no water': Palestinians desperately wait for aid
Palestinians in Gaza were still waiting for the promised arrival of food despite mounting pressure on the Israeli government to allow more aid in to the territory.
International and domestic pressure has ramped up to allow essential humanitarian aid to flow to the population on the brink of a famine after an 11-week blockade.
According to Israeli military figures fewer than 100 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Monday, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government agreed to lift the blockade that has forced Gazans into a desperate struggle to survive.
Abdel-Nasser Al-Ajramy, the head of the bakery owners' society, said at least 25 bakeries that were told they would receive flour from the World Food Programme had seen nothing and there was no relief from the hunger for people waiting for food.
"There is no flour, no food, no water," said Sabah Warsh Agha, a 67-year-old woman from the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya sheltering in a cluster of tents near to the beach in Gaza City. "We used to get water from the pump, now the pump has stopped working. There is no diesel or gas."
Netanyahu expected to hold press conference
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold his first press conference in five months later today, as pressure continues to mount on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and to scale back its military offensive.
Netanyahu’s office said he would speak at 8.15pm in Jerusalem (6.15pm British time), according to the Times of Israel.
Mapped: Where and how Israel has ramped up its latest attack on the Gaza Strip
Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Wednesday as it resisted international pressure to halt its revamped attacks on the devastated enclave.
Scores of Palestinians were killed, including several women and a one-week-old baby, with at least 500 killed in the past week as Israel launches its new offensive, “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”.
Here’s a look at what Israel is doing in Gaza:
Mapped: Where and how Israel has ramped up its latest attack on the Gaza Strip
Many in Gaza at risk of famine
Experts have warned that many of Gaza's 2 million residents face a high risk of famine. At one displacement camp in Gaza City, a charity group distributed thin and watery lentil soup.
Somaia Abu Amsha scooped small portions into bowls for her family, saying they have not had bread for over 10 days and she can't afford rice or pasta.
"We don't want anything other than that they end the war. We don't want charity kitchens. Even dogs wouldn't eat this, let alone children," she said, pointing at the soup.
No aid has been distributed today, UN aid official says
No aid has reached people in Gaza, a U.N. aid official said on Wednesday, two days after the Israeli government said it had lifted an 11-week-old blockade that has brought the Palestinian enclave to the brink of famine.
The Israeli military said five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday and 93 on Tuesday but supplies have not made it to Gaza's soup kitchens, bakeries, markets and hospitals, according to aid officials and local bakeries that were standing by to receive supplies of flour.
"None of this aid - that is a very limited number of trucks - has reached the Gaza population," said Antoine Renard, country director of the World Food Programme (WFP), who said the trucks appeared to be stopped in Kerem Shalom, the sprawling logistics hub at the south-eastern corner of the Gaza Strip.
Aid still not distributed in Gaza, says UN
Humanitarian aid is still yet to reach Palestinian people in Gaza, the UN has said.
Two days after Israel lifted an 11-week blockade and began allowing limited deliveries through the Kerem Shalom crossing, it is yet to be distributed to starving civillians in the enclave.
"So far ... none of the supplies have been able to leave the Kerem Shalom loading area," said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
They added that it was because Israeli authorities had only allowed access within Gaza "that we felt was insecure" and where looting was likely due to the prolonged deprivation.
Charities warn 'Gaza is hell on earth' as Israel intensifies attacks
People in Gaza have described the enclave as “hell on earth”, as Israel continues to bombard the strip and supplies run out.
ActionAid said staff at their partner organisation in Gaza, WEFAQ, had been forced to evacuate their offices and homes.
The charity’s emergency response manager in Gaza, Alaa, who was also forcibly displaced from his home in Deir Al-Balah, said people were fleeing with just the clothes on their backs while hungry and exhausted.
“Gaza is hell on the earth,” he said. “We live under non-stop bombing along with starvation...The situation is beyond impossible.”
Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said: “There are simply no words to describe the horror people in Gaza are living through right now, with the entire strip under intense attack and virtually no food or other essentials available.
“Every single day the news from our colleagues and partners in Gaza gets more unbearable. “
Netanyahu to speak shortly
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a press conference in the next few minutes.
The Israeli prime minister will speak at his first press conference in five months, as pressure continues to mount on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and to scale back its military offensive.
We will bring you the latest updates here.
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