Updates: Gaza on ‘brink of full-scale famine’ as Israel blocks crucial aid

You can read our story on UK plans to recognise the state of Palestine in September, unless Israel halts the Gaza war, here.

Find an opinion piece about the token measures masking Western complicity and protecting Israel from real accountability, here.

And see the calls for the US to sanction Israeli settlers after a Palestinian activist was killed, here.

Read the rest of our Gaza coverage here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here are today’s top developments:

• Israeli attacks on Gaza have now killed at least 60,034 people and wounded 145,870 others since the war began in October 2023.
• The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitoring system, warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza.
• At least 83 Palestinians have been killed since dawn across the war-battered territory, including 33 people searching for food, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
• Save the Children said the number of children aged under 5 with acute malnutrition in its Gaza clinics has surged over the past four months.
• Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes more steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza.
• Israel called Starmer’s announcement a “reward for Hamas”.
• US Senate Democrats are pressuring President Trump’s administration to intervene as Palestinians starve in Gaza and Israel continues to block desperately needed aid.

Saudi Arabia and France called on countries to support a declaration that outlines “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards implementing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

The first step outlined in the declaration is to end the 21-month war on Gaza.

“Following the ceasefire, a transitional administrative committee must be immediately established to operate in Gaza under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority,” the declaration said.

It supported the deployment of a temporary international stabilisation mission, mandated by the UN Security Council, and welcomed “the readiness expressed by some member states to contribute troops”.

It calls on Israel’s leadership to “issue a clear public commitment to the two-state solution, including a sovereign and viable Palestinian State,” to immediately end violence and incitement against Palestinians, and to halt all land grabs and annexation activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

“Only by ending the war in Gaza, releasing all hostages, ending occupation, rejecting violence and terror, realizing an independent, sovereign, and democratic Palestinian state, ending the occupation of all Arab territories and providing solid security guarantees for Israel and Palestine, can normal relations and coexistence among the region’s peoples and states be achieved,” it said.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has expressed support for the UK’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The United Kingdom joins today in the momentum created by France for the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Barrot said in a post on X.

“Together, through this pivotal decision and our combined efforts, we break the endless cycle of violence and reopen the prospect of peace in the region. A just and clear idea, nothing and no one can resist it.”

The UK government’s announcement comes after France announced it would also recognise Palestinian statehood.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his country would recognise a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel takes substantial steps to end the violence in Gaza.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society’s as-Saraya field hospital continues to receive casualties from the Zikim area, where large numbers of desperate Palestinians waited for aid in Gaza.

“So far, the hospital has received one martyr and more than 80 wounded amid a continued influx of wounded and significant pressure on medical staff,” the hospital said in a post on Facebook.

Footage from the hospital showed the dire situation, with patients crying in pain as they were brought in on stretchers while others clambered out of ambulances. One shot shows a child unconscious while another person is being bandaged.

The hospital, which officially opened today in Gaza City’s as-Saraya area, was established in February. It followed the closure of other hospitals after being attacked by Israeli forces.

Israel allowed 109 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, but most were looted during escalating security chaos, the Government Media Office says.

“Today, 109 aid trucks entered Gaza, with the majority looted and robbed due to the security chaos systematically and deliberately imposed by the Israeli occupation,” it said in a statement.

The media office emphasised that Gaza requires at least 600 aid trucks and fuel daily to meet civilians’ basic needs as famine spreads.

Israel aims to “sabotage aid distribution and deprive civilians of assistance as part of engineering chaos and starvation”, it added.

Airdrop operations failed to reach those in need, the office said, noting that “four of six air drops landed in areas under Israeli military control or neighbourhoods where civilians had been ordered to evacuate”.

Anyone in these areas “faces direct targeting and killing”, making the airdrops “not only futile but also dangerous to the starving population”.

Israeli settlers have set fire to agricultural land in the village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

Citing local sources, the Wafa news agency reported that settlers from the illegal Homesh colony, with the backing of Israeli troops, set fire to land near Palestinian homes. So far, no injuries have been reported.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, settler violence in the occupied West Bank has dramatically increased.

The Israeli army says it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen following the activation of alerts in several areas across the country.

“Following the alerts that were activated a short time ago … one missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the military said.

“The alerts were activated in accordance with policy.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed astonishment over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that “there is no starvation” in Gaza.

Albanese’s response came over a question from a Labor Party backbencher about when Australia would move to recognise Palestinian statehood.

“Those claims that there’s no starvation in Gaza are beyond comprehension,” said the Australian prime minister.

Albanese said Israel is “quite clearly” breaching international law by preventing the entry of aid into the besieged enclave.

Israel’s war on Gaza has “stolen far too many innocent lives”, he added.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called Albanese’s remarks “a lie” and claimed it is “not withholding any aid”.

The United Kingdom has carried out its first air drop of aid into Gaza as UN agencies warned the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said “the first air drops of British aid” are landing on Tuesday “containing around half a million pounds worth of lifesaving supplies”.

“The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering now in Gaza because of a catastrophic failure of aid. We see starving babies, children too weak to stand,” Starmer said in a televised address, adding “the suffering must end”.

Paolo Minadakis, one of the demonstrators at the port of Agios Nikolaos in Crete, described tense scenes as activists gathered to protest the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship carrying 1,500 passengers.

“We are in a town of 15,000 people. We were around 200 demonstrators. Police anti-riot squads were sent from Athens with three coast guard vessels and army special forces,” he told Al Jazeera, recounting how authorities cleared the road to allow tourists while using tear gas against protesters.

Minadakis added that some of the tourists brandished Israeli flags and directed foul language towards the protesters.

It was the largest demonstration so far against the weekly arrival of Israeli cruise ships, he said.

“We are protesting against the genocide in Palestine. It’s disgraceful and disturbing having them here to spend their blood money in our island. This is our chance to show these people that their country is committing a genocide. Even in a small town such as ours, they will maybe wonder why are these people protesting.”

Similar demonstrations have taken place in recent days on other Greek islands, including Syros and Rhodes, as anger at Israel grows internationally.

Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as some 300 people tried to block an Israeli cruise ship on the island of Crete, the latest in a series of protests targeting the vessel.

The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Crown Iris approached, according to images shown by the public broadcaster ERT.

The images also showed police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, allowing several hundred passengers to board buses on the island.

“I had a sore throat from the tear gas and had to leave the demonstration,” said Elena Toutoudaki, a teacher in her 50s. Three people were arrested and later released.

Protesters have targeted the Crown Iris, with about 600 mostly Israelis on board, on other Greek islands.

On Monday, protesters scuffled with police who made eight arrests as it docked in Rhodes, while last week, 200 people protested in Syros as the ship approached.

Numerous demonstrations against Israel’s devastating war on Gaza have taken place in Athens and other cities across Greece.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has criticised what he says is the “extremist” government’s attempt to annex northern Gaza instead of ending the war.

“What does this mean? It means that our money will be used to educate the children in Gaza, to build hospitals in Gaza, our money will fix the roads in Gaza, our money will provide water and electricity to Gaza,” Lapid wrote on X in Hebrew.

There’s an alternative to the plan that includes “ending the war, returning the hostages, withdrawing from Gaza, transferring it to Egyptian management, and achieving a real victory over Hamas”.

Lapid’s comments come after the Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to propose annexing parts of Gaza in an attempt to convince far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich not to quit his coalition government.

In response to the UK government’s announcement to recognise Palestinian statehood, Amnesty International underscored the need for more urgent action over besieged Gaza.

“The UK government’s statement, while a shift in rhetoric, won’t stop the genocide alone. Robust and effective action is urgently needed, and today’s response fell short of that,” said Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty UK’s crisis response manager.

“This moment demands immediate, decisive action from countries like the UK to hold Israel accountable and impose concrete consequences for its ongoing violations”.

Benedict said impunity enables violence and without accountability the genocide in Gaza will continue.

“Every second matters for Palestinians,” he said, urging the UK to sanction Israeli officials implicated in international crimes, halt arms exports, and end trade.

Israel’s occupation must end, Benedict added, calling it a “brutal system of apartheid”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced Paris will airdrop 40 tonnes of aid into Gaza in close coordination with Jordan.

Barrot told the BFMTV television broadcaster France also has aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road that’s being blocked by Israel in northern Egypt.

“The air route is useful but it is not sufficient,” he said. “Fifty-two tonnes of French humanitarian freight are blocked in el-Arish”, an Egyptian city 50km (30 miles) from Gaza.

“It is therefore essential that the Israeli authorities finally agree to reopen land access to the Gaza Strip sufficiently so as to alleviate the atrocious suffering of its civilian populations,” Barrot added.

Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition and former prime minister, has criticised the government’s handling of the Gaza conflict saying it led Israel from a “just war” to a “political disaster”.

In a post on X, Lapid called out Israel’s leadership saying “failure follows failure”.

“A prime minister who has disappeared from the political scene, a useless foreign minister, and ministers who endanger soldiers every time they open their mouths.”

Lapid’s comments come as pressure continues to mount on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with growing frustration over his leadership during the ongoing war on Gaza.

US President Donald Trump says he did not discuss Britain’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state during his meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump told reporters on board Air Force One while travelling back to the United States from Scotland, recognising a Palestinian state would be “rewarding Hamas” – in a similar response to the decision from Israel.

“I don’t think they should be rewarded,” Trump said.

The US sent $60m for food aid for Palestinians in Gaza and Trump said he wants to make sure it’s “spent wisely and is spent judiciously, and that food is distributed in a proper manner”.