"FOOD availability is at an all-time low across the entire Gaza Strip”, a new UN report has said as Israel’s aid blockade continues.
The report comes after the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced on Sunday it was pausing deliveries to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing because of the “breakdown of civil order”.
Some Palestinians in the north have reported completely running out of supplies and no functioning bakeries.
Israeli authorities have also been accused of obstructing or impeding attempts to deliver food.
The report said famine is imminent in the north, while the number of people facing food insecurity is projected to triple over winter.
It is similar in the south, with all bakeries having close. The report also said "negative coping strategies" are taking place, such as skipping meals, child labour, early marriage and searching through rubbish for food.
Elsewhere, Palestinian officials have said Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war.
Such a move would effectively end Hamas’s rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel.
The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007.
However Israel has ruled out any post-war role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
A Palestinian Authority official confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement has been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza.
It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which has its headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction.
A Hamas official said Hamas and Fatah have agreed on the general terms but are still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee.
The official said an agreement will be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
It comes as US president-elect Donald Trump demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by the Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying on social media that if they are not freed before he takes office in January there will be “HELL TO PAY”.
It was not immediately clear whether he was threatening to directly involve the US military.
Trump called for Palestinian militants to free all of the roughly 100 Israeli hostages still held inside Gaza, around two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.
If not, he said: “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
Hours earlier, the Israeli government confirmed the death of Omer Neutra, a dual US-Israeli citizen, whose body is still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the Israeli government.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked Trump for his “refreshing” and “morally sound statements”
