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

Gaza is facing severe shortages of laboratory materials and blood bank supplies, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has said in a press release. 

The enclave's health ministry has warned that many essential supplies for medical tests are running out or have already been exhausted.

More than half of laboratory consumables and supplies are also expected to run out within weeks, the ministry said, adding that 49 percent of laboratory testing materials are out of stock, while 60.3 percent of the remaining basic materials will last less than a month.

Materials needed to test drug levels for kidney and liver transplant patients have run out, while the testing materials for complete blood counts are “sufficient for only a limited number of days”.

Supplies for viral blood testing are also expected to last only days "raising a risk of unsafe blood transfusions”.

The statement added that around 45 percent of laboratory equipment has been damaged or destroyed by Israel, and there is an urgent need for maintenance and spare parts.

The moment Israel began the genocide in Gaza, a parallel war has unfolded in the shadows: the systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners, in some cases, to death.

While the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has long been documented by human rights organisations, the abuses have sharply escalated since the onset of the war on 7 October 2023. 

Arrests, deaths in custody, and allegations of abuse have all surged to record levels.

Both international and Israeli human rights groups have condemned the abuses, with B'Tselem referring to Israeli prisons as “torture camps”.

Nearly two years into the Gaza genocide, fresh reports of torture and deaths in custody continue to emerge from Israeli detention centres.

Read more: How Israel's abuse of Palestinian prisoners escalated after 7 October

Qatar said on Tuesday that a Hamas-approved Gaza proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli captives was almost identical to an earlier draft Israel had already agreed to.

Hamas gave a "very positive response, and it truly was almost identical to what the Israeli side had previously agreed to", said Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

Efforts to pause the fighting gained new momentum over the past week after Israel announced plans to occupy Gaza City, and Egypt and Qatar have been pushing to restart indirect talks between the sides on a US-backed ceasefire plan.

According to a Reuters report, the proposal includes the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel and an unspecified number of imprisoned women and minors, in return for 10 living and 18 deceased captives from Gaza, according to a Hamas official.

Two Egyptian security sources confirmed the details and added that Hamas has requested the release of hundreds of Gaza detainees as well, the report said.

The proposal includes a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, which presently control 75 percent of Gaza and the entry of more humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, has recently visited the United Arab Emirates to discuss the war in Gaza, according to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. 

Dermer is a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and took charge of Israel’s negotiating team in ceasefire talks earlier this year. 

According to Kan, he made a secret trip to the Emirates with a high-level delegation. 

As well as discussing the war in Gaza, they also reportedly discussed security and diplomatic affairs. Dermer’s office did not comment on the meeting. 

It was reported earlier this week that the strategic affairs minister plans to retire from politics before the next election, which is set for October next year. 

Read more: Israeli minister makes secret trip to the Emirates for diplomatic talks

Israel is letting some supplies into the Gaza Strip but not enough to avert widespread starvation, said the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday.

"In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation," UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.

He added that the risk of starvation in Gaza was a "direct result of the Israeli government's policy of blocking humanitarian aid. Israel's military agency that coordinates aid, Cogat, said Israel invests "considerable efforts" in aid distribution to Gaza.

Three more people have died from malnutrition in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported, citing the health ministry.

The ministry put the total number of hunger-related deaths at 266, including 122 children.

Jewish prayers recited loudly in groups. Singing and dancing. Men prostrating themselves, faces pressed to the ground. Israeli flags held aloft.

That was the scene inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, during an Israeli raid earlier this month. 

A few years ago, such a display would have been unimaginable. But since 7 October 2023, everything has changed, say Palestinians. 

"There were terrifying numbers of people [Israeli settlers] present and some were important figures," Aouni Bazbaz, the director of international affairs at the Islamic Waqf, the organisation that administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Middle East Eye at the time.

"What happened… represents a pivotal stage aimed at forcibly imposing Jewish sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque and dividing it spatially between Muslims and settlers,” he added. 

Read more: Why Israel is closer than ever to building the Third Temple

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese of "betraying Israel" following a visa row between the two countries.

"History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews," Netanyahu said in a post on X.

On Monday, Australia cancelled the visa of far-right Israeli MP Simcha Rothman, accusing him of seeking to "spread division" in the country.

In response, Israel barred the Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority from entering the occupied West Bank, prompting condemnation from the Australian foreign ministry.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday that "the Netanyahu government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution".

Israeli forces have shot at and killed two Palestinians seeking aid near a distribution site in southern Gaza run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to Al Jazeera.

The reports said 26 people were killed on Tuesday across Gaza, including four killed at GHF aid distribution sites.

The United Nations Security Council began to debate on Monday a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim of withdrawing it.

Israel and the United States have reportedly opposed the renewal of the force's mandate, and it was unclear if the draft text has backing from Washington, which wields a veto on the Council.

A US State Department spokesman said "we don't comment on ongoing UN Security Council negotiations," as talks continued on the fate of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (Unifil), deployed since 1978 to separate Lebanon and Israel.

The text, first reported by Reuters, would "extend the mandate of Unifil until 31 August, 2026" but "indicates its intention to work on a withdrawal of Unifil."

That would be on the condition that Lebanon's government was the "sole provider of security in southern Lebanon... and that the parties agree on a comprehensive political arrangement."

Under a truce that ended Israel's war with Hezbollah, Beirut's army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the group's infrastructure there.

Under the truce, Israel was meant to completely withdraw from Lebanon, but it has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic and continues to carry out air strikes across Lebanon. 

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong released a statement condemning the Israeli decision to bar the Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority from entering the occupied West Bank.

Israel's move came after Australia cancelled the visa of a far-right Israeli MP on Monday, accusing him of seeking to "spread division" in the country.

"At a time when dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever, the Netanyahu government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution," Wong said in the statement.

“This is an unjustified reaction, following Australia’s decision to recognise Palestine.”

Wong said Australia will continue to work with partners to contribute to “international momentum to a two-state solution, a ceasefire in Gaza and release of the hostages.”

Israeli attacks have killed at least 21 people in Gaza since dawn, including six in Israeli attacks on tents housing displaced people in Khan Younis and four in a tent in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera, citing hospital sources.

A record 383 aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza during Israel's war on Gaza, the UN humanitarian office said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a "shameful indictment" of international apathy.

The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, "driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives".

It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.

The UN said most of those killed were local staff, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.

Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.

"Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve," said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher.

"Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy."

"As the humanitarian community, we demand - again - that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account."

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers.

Here are the most recent key developments:

• US-based charity Heal Palestine and other rights groups criticised the State Department's decision to stop visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, saying it will harm wounded children seeking medical treatment on short-term US visas.

• The United Nations Security Council has begun to debate a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year, with the ultimate aim of withdrawing it.

• A ship loaded with 1,200 tons of food supplies for the Gaza Strip is approaching the port of Ashdod in southern Israel, in a renewed effort to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

• The administration of President Donald Trump has revoked more than 6,000 student visas for overstays and breaking the law, including a small minority for "support for terrorism," a State Department official said on Monday.

• A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a "shameful indictment" of international apathy and warned this year's toll was equally disturbing.

• Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will exclude another six Israeli companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio following an ethics review, it said on Monday.

• More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's war on Gaza.

• At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, including 14 seeking aid, Al Jazeera reported.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip rose to five people on Monday night, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

Two Palestinians were previously said to have been killed by the Israeli strike. 

Israel has launched attacks across Gaza on Monday as it ramps up its genocide in the enclave.