Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations, the United Nations said on Tuesday. 

“⁠The horrific physical and psychological deaths and suffering caused by hunger are the result of Israel’s interference in the delivery and militarisation of humanitarian aid,” the UN statement reads. 

"As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations' aid convoys," UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told AFP, stating the victims had been killed by the Israeli military.

The Trump administration has announced the United States will leave Unesco, accusing the UN cultural agency of opposing Israel and promoting what it calls a “woke agenda”, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.

The move follows a 90-day White House review ordered earlier this year, focused on investigating alleged anti-Israel sentiment. Officials reportedly criticised Unesco’s work on diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as what they described as a bias in favour of Palestinians.

“President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from Unesco - which supports woke, divisive, cultural and social causes,” said White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly.

The administration objected to Unesco's recognition of heritage sites in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as Palestinian. It also objected to Unesco's use of the word "occupied" to refer to Palestinian lands.

At least 43 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since dawn, according to hospital sources, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Doctors say Israeli forces opened fire in multiple areas of the Strip, with 10 of the dead reportedly gunned down while waiting for food. 

The number of people who have died from famine and malnutrition in Gaza has climbed to 101, the territory’s Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

Health officials said 80 of those who died were children. In the past 24 hours alone, hospitals reported 15 additional deaths, including four children.

The death is part of a growing number of malnutrition-related deaths in the besieged enclave, where food remains scarce and aid deliveries remain largely blocked by Israel.

The highest-ranking Catholic official in the Holy Land has condemned Gaza’s humanitarian crisis as “morally unacceptable” following a visit to the besieged enclave.

“We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s morally unacceptable and unjustified,” said Pizzaballa as reported by the AFP.

Pizzaballa’s remarks came after witnessing the extreme suffering and deprivation faced by Palestinians living under months of Israeli bombardment and blockade.

Staff with the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) in Gaza are collapsing from hunger and fatigue while trying to carry out their work, the organisation’s head said on Tuesday.

“Caretakers, including Unrwa colleagues in Gaza, are also in need of care now,” said Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians - among them, Unrwa staff are hungry. Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties.”

The statement was delivered by his spokesperson during a press briefing in Geneva, as aid workers in Gaza continue to face worsening conditions under the Israeli siege. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) says hunger in Gaza has reached alarming levels, with a third of the population going days without food due to Israel’s ongoing blockade.

“The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation,” said Ross Smith, WFP’s emergency preparedness chief. “A third of the population is not eating for multiple days in a row.”

The agency estimates that one in four people in Gaza now faces famine-like conditions.

Among the most vulnerable, WFP says 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe malnutrition as food supplies remain critically low and humanitarian access remains blocked.

An Israeli air strike has killed one Palestinian and wounded several others in the central Gaza Strip, according to a medical source.

Staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the attack targeted a group of civilians gathered south of Deir al-Balah.

The strike adds to the mounting casualties from Israeli assaults on densely populated areas across Gaza.

At least 35 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since dawn today, hospital sources report.

Doctors said Israeli forces opened fire in several areas of the Strip, with eight of those killed reportedly waiting for food aid.

France has called for independent journalists to be allowed into Gaza to report on conditions inside the besieged enclave, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.

Speaking to France Inter radio, Barrot said: “We hope to get some journalist staff out in the coming weeks,” referring to AFP reporters still trapped in Gaza. The French news agency earlier described their situation as “untenable,” with the Society of Journalists (SDJ) warning: “We risk seeing them die.”

An AFP statement said staff are enduring unbearable conditions despite showing “exemplary courage and resilience.” The SDJ added: “We have lost colleagues to war and imprisonment, but never to hunger.”

Barrot, speaking from Kyiv, also strongly condemned the latest Israeli assault on Gaza. “This offensive will only deepen the catastrophe,” he said.

France renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip.

Medical staff in Gaza say at least 23 people have died from malnutrition over the past two days in several parts of the besieged territory, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Hospital sources confirmed the deaths occurred across multiple areas, underscoring the growing toll of starvation amid severe shortages of food and aid.

The Israeli army has confirmed that one of its soldiers was killed in the southern Gaza Strip after a building collapsed on him, Haaretz reported. It was not clear if the soldier was killed by Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza.

Hospitals in Gaza have confirmed that four people, including two children, died from malnutrition and dehydration since early Tuesday.

Medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic said the deaths reflect the worsening humanitarian crisis, with food, water, and medical supplies all critically scarce in the besieged enclave.

A second child has died from malnutrition in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, a medical source has confirmed to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Staff at Nasser Medical Complex said the child, identified as Abdul Hamid al-Ghalban, died after his condition worsened due to severe hunger.

The death is part of a growing number of malnutrition-related deaths in the besieged enclave, where food remains scarce and aid deliveries remain largely blocked by Israel.

Doctors at Al-Shifa Medical Complex speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic reported that a baby has died from malnutrition in northern Gaza.