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Health officials in Gaza said more than 20,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israel in its offensive against Hamas, as the UN warned that at least a quarter of the besieged enclave’s population faced starvation.
The estimated death toll released by Palestinian officials in the Hamas-controlled strip came as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on a resolution on the conflict, following days of fraught negotiations.
The stripped-down draft resolution calls for an increase in humanitarian aid but does not include a call for a cessation of hostilities, which had been unacceptable to the US.
The vote comes as the UN warned that food supplies in Gaza had dwindled to the point of acute food insecurity after Israel tightly restricted the influx of international aid, citing a need to inspect every truck for weapons.
One in four of Gaza’s population of about 2.3mn are starving, the UN’s World Food Program said, and without an immediate surge in aid, the entire enclave would face famine within six months.
Israel has laid siege to the strip since Hamas’s October 7 attack, but has denied any food shortage, disputed the death count and said it had killed thousands of Hamas fighters.
The US has declined to allow a Security Council vote that would include any language demanding a ceasefire, UN officials said. The pared-down language will instead call for the creation of a “humanitarian and reconstruction co-ordinator” in order to get more aid into Gaza.
During last month’s seven-day pause in hostilities to allow for a hostage-for-prisoner swap, Israel agreed for as many 200 trucks of aid to enter Gaza per day. Hamas still holds about 130 hostages and is demanding an end to hostilities before it negotiates conditions for their release.
Since the swap, Israel has also reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing, which was designed after a 2014 war to allow the passage of at least double that number of trucks.
Yet, on average, no more than 72 trucks have entered the strip since the war began, after a cross-border Hamas raid that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to government figures. Israel has said it does not restrict aid convoys, and has blamed logistical difficulties and supply shortages from aid agencies for any shortfall.
“There is no limit to the amount of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment that can enter Gaza,” the ministry of defence’s department for the Palestinian territories said on the social platform X.
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