Live: Six more Palestinians die of famine as Israel blocks Gaza aid

Former US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that he now supports withholding American weapons sales to Israel, marking a major reversal after spending 18 months lobbying Democrats to block such measures and backing much of Israel's genocide in Gaza.

“I have in fact told a number of members who were thinking about the votes on these resolutions that the situation as it stands today, following the breakdown of the cease-fire in March, means that a vote to withhold weapons to Israel is a totally credible position. That is a position I would support,” Sullivan said on The Bulwark podcast.

He was referring to a resolution introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, which saw more than half of Senate Democrats backing restrictions on arms sales to Israel for the first time. Sullivan and the White House had previously pushed Democrats to oppose Sanders’ earlier attempt during the Biden administration’s final months.

A Palestinian man seeking aid was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces near the Netzarim junction in central Gaza, medical staff at Al-Aqsa Hospital reported.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, now in its 691st day:

• Gaza’s health ministry has reported that ten Palestinians, including two children, have died in the past 24 hours from hunger-related causes, as Israeli continues to lay siege to much of Gaza. This brings the number of starvation-linked deaths since the war began to 313, including 119 children.

• Israeli air strikes near food distribution points operated by the Israeli- and US-backed GHF killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, medical staff confirmed. Four victims were killed while queuing for aid in northern Gaza.

• The death toll from Israel’s assault on Gaza has now climbed to at least 62,895 Palestinians.

• US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will lead a high-level White House meeting on Wednesday to discuss a post-war strategy for Gaza.

• French President Emmanuel Macron warned in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that retaking Gaza would further isolate Israel, fuel antisemitism and put Jewish communities worldwide at risk.

• Bahrain’s foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani accepted the credentials of Israel’s new ambassador to Bahrain, Shmuel Revel, on Wednesday, according to the state news agency.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning. 

Here are the day's key developments:

- US contractors at a Gaza aid centre interrogated a source of Middle East Eye journalist Mohamed Salama seeking information about his identity and whereabouts before he was killed, MEE can exclusively reveal.

- Fourteen of the 15 United Nations Security Council members - four permanent ones and 10 that rotate - are demanding a ceasefire and that aid be let into Gaza, calling the situation a "famine". The United States was the only holdout.

- Hamas said it welcomed the statement and added that "the continued obstruction of binding resolutions by the US makes it complicit in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people".

- Israel announced it will establish two additional humanitarian aid distribution centres in the southern Gaza Strip to serve Palestinians forcibly displaced by its planned military takeover of Gaza City.

- At least 80 Palestinians have been injured in an ongoing Israeli military raid on Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

- Israel carried out another round of air strikes on the Damascus countryside on Wednesday, targeting what it says are military sites in the areas of al-Kiswah and Tal el-Manea, south of the capital.

At least one child is dead and several other people are wounded after Israeli air strikes targeted a family home in the Bureij camp in northern Gaza overnight, Wednesday into Thursday, local reports said. 

Israel also bombed a family home in Jabalia. Locals assisting in the rescue are still trying to determine casualty figures. 

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are attending a White House meeting on Wednesday to lay out US and Israeli plans for the fate of post-war Gaza, according to media reports.

The meeting comes days after Trump said he expected Israel's war on Gaza to end within "two to three weeks". Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, then said on Wednesday that the war would be finished by the end of the year. 

“It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together on the next day that I think many people are going to be – they’re going to see how robust it is and how well-meaning it is,” Witkoff said, addressing the meeting at the White House.

“And it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives here.”

Read more: Why Tony Blair and Jared Kushner were at the White House to discuss Gaza

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's Wednesday meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar focused on the "United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security" before discussing regional "issues", a brief readout provided by State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.

"The Secretary discussed key issues in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria," as well as "the importance of countering Iran’s malign influence". 

More than 100 diverse faith-based, civil rights and human rights organisations sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding action to secure the safe release of a 16-year-old Palestinian-American citizen from Florida detained without trial in a notorious Israeli prison.

The letter to Rubio, dated 26 August 2025, said the teenager, Mohammed Ibrahim, is in poor health and his detention in an Israeli prison was a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits “the deportation of protected persons from an Occupied Territory to the territory of the Occupying Power”.

“Mohammed’s health is dire and requires your immediate action to ensure Mohammed is free, safe, and with his parents - his life is on the line," the letter reads. 

Read more: More than 100 groups demand release of Palestinian-American teenager in Israeli prison

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar arrived at the US State Department for a meeting with his US counterpart Marco Rubio on Wednesday. The two shook hands for the cameras but did not respond to any shouted questions.

It's unclear if Sa'ar will join the off-camera White House meeting on "day after" plans for Gaza, which former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are participating in on Wednesday.

Hamas on Wednesday said it welcomed the statement from 14 of the 15 United Nations Security Council members - four permanent ones and 10 that rotate - calling on Israel to allow unfettered aid into Gaza to stop the famine, and to end its war on the enclave. 

The US did not take part. 

"We see this international position as a significant step forward, demonstrating broad consensus in condemning the crime of genocide and the war of starvation waged by the occupation against more than two million Palestinians in Gaza," Hamas said in a statement.

But it also added that "the continued obstruction of binding resolutions by the US makes it complicit in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, and [it] bears responsibility for the famine and massacres in Gaza". 

Israel carried out another round of air strikes on the Damascus countryside on Wednesday, targeting what it says are military sites in the areas of al-Kiswah and Tal el-Manea, south of the capital.

This is the second round of Israeli strikes on Syria in 24 hours. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recognition of the Armenian genocide on Tuesday during an interview with right-wing media personality Patrick Bet David has led people online to accuse Netanyahu of being “hypocritical”.

Bet David asked Netanyahu on his PBD podcast why Israel had yet to recognise the killings that wiped out most of Turkey's Christian population. Netanyahu answered that he accepted the Ottoman Empire's killing of more than 1.5 million Armenians, as well as hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and Greeks, during World War I as genocide. 

"In fact, I think we have. I think the Knesset passed a resolution to that effect," Netanyahu responded, possibly referring to MPs on the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee issuing a resolution that recognised the genocide in 2016, according to what many on social media said.

When asked by Bet David if he recognises the Armenian genocide himself, Netanyahu said, “I just did.”

Read more: Netanyahu accused of hypocrisy for recognising Armenian genocide in a podcast

A Quinnipiac University Poll released on Wednesday showed for the very first time that US support for Israel is dwindling significantly, while support for Palestinians grows. 

Results showed that 60 percent of American voters oppose the US sending more military aid to Israel, while 32 percent support it.

This is the highest level of opposition for military aid to Israel since Quinnipiac first asked this question of registered voters on 2 November 2023, nearly a month after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Results also showed that half of US voters think Israel is committing genocide, while 35 percent do not think so. Fifteen percent did not offer an opinion.

Voters were asked whether their sympathies lie more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians based on what they know about the situation in the Middle East. Thirty-seven percent of voters said Palestinians, while 36 percent said Israelis, and 27 percent did not offer an opinion.

Quinnipiac noted that this is an all-time high for the Palestinians and an all-time low for the Israelis since the university poll began asking this question of registered voters in December 2001.

Responses came from a telephone survey of 1,220 self-identified registered voters with a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. It was conducted between 21-25 August 2025.

Fourteen of the 15 United Nations Security Council members - four permanent ones and 10 that rotate - are demanding a ceasefire and that aid be let into Gaza, calling the situation a "famine".

The United States was the only holdout.

"We express our profound alarm and distress at the IPC data on Gaza published last Friday - it clearly and unequivocally confirms famine in Gaza," the Guyanese ambassador, speaking on behalf of the group, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York City on Wednesday.

"We stand in front of you, especially disturbed by the levels of acute malnutrition among children in Gaza. We note that at least 41,000 children are at heightened risk of death from malnutrition between now and June 2026. This is a man made crisis. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Famine in Gaza must be stopped immediately. International humanitarian law must be respected," ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said.

"We call for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. We call for the immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups. We call for a substantive surge of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza," she stressed.

"Israel must immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on aid delivery. This includes opening all land routes and allowing the UN and humanitarian partners to operate safely and at scale. Humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence must be central to humanitarian action," Rodrigues-Birkett continued.

"We call on Israel to immediately reverse its decision to further expand its military operation in Gaza with the aim of taking over Gaza City. This decision, which we reject, will inevitably worsen the already horrific humanitarian situation and endanger the lives of all civilians, including the hostages". 

Axios is reporting that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, will present "day after" plans for Gaza at a White House meeting on Wednesday.

Blair's legacy is largely shaped by his push for the US-UK war on Iraq in 2003, which a British inquiry later panned by saying he lied about the intelligence assessments.

Kushner has close family ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dating back decades, and suggested more than a year ago that Gaza would make for highly lucrative waterfront property development.