ROME: Famine is looming in the northern Gaza Strip amid increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid, a UN-backed assessment said Saturday.
The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.”
“Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future,” said the alert.
On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing “catastrophic” food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report classified that as IPC Phase 5 — a situation when “starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.”
Since that report, conditions have worsened in the north of Gaza, with a collapse of food systems, a drop in humanitarian aid and critical water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, the committee said.
“It can therefore be assumed that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease, are rapidly increasing in these areas,” it read.
Vast areas of the Gaza Strip have been devastated by Israel’s retaliatory assault launched after the October 7 attack last year by Hamas.
Israeli forces have intensified their operations in large swathes of the Gaza Strip’s north since early October, where evacuation orders are in place.
Aid shipments allowed to enter the Gaza Strip were now lower than at any time since October 2023, said the report.
Access to food continues to deteriorate, with prices of essentials on the black market soaring. Cooking gas rose by 2,612 percent, diesel by 1,315 percent and wood by 250 percent, it said.
“Concurrent with the extremely high and increasing prices of essential items has been the total collapse of livelihoods to be able to purchase or barter for food and other basic needs,” said the alert.
The body expressed concern over Israel’s cutting ties last month with the UN aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), warning of “extremely serious consequences for humanitarian operations” in Gaza.
Famine looming in north Gaza: UN-backed report
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Famine looming in north Gaza: UN-backed report
- UN projects the number of people in Gaza facing ‘catastrophic’ food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000
- Vast areas of the Gaza Strip have been devastated by Israel’s retaliatory assault
Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026
“I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem,” Milei said in a speech in the Israeli parliament during an official state visit.
Argentina’s embassy is currently located near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Several countries, including the United States, Paraguay, Guatemala and Kosovo, have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, breaking with international consensus.
Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, later annexing it in a move not recognized by the international community.
Israel treats the city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state.
Most foreign embassies to Israel are located in the coastal hub city of Tel Aviv in order to avoid interfering with negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
In 2017, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.
The United States transferred its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.
Syrian, Egyptian foreign ministers hold talks at Oslo Forum
- Lawmakers exchange views on challenges to regional security
LONDON: The foreign ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic and Egypt held talks on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum 2025 in Norway.
Asaad al-Shaibani and Badr Abdelatty discussed ways to improve collaboration between their countries and exchanged views on the challenges to security and stability in the region, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan also met Abdelatty on the sidelines of the forum to discuss bilateral relations and the escalating situation in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
The Oslo Forum is an annual event organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland. It provides a platform for global leaders, decision-makers and conflict mediators to share their experiences and discuss pathways to peace.
Smotrich’s move to cut bank ties risks Palestinian supply crisis
- The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism
JERUSALEM: An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said on Wednesday.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.
This move risks the Palestinian banking system, trade, and overall economy. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks.
Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show.
BACKGROUND
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.
Canceling the waiver would require approval by Israel’s security Cabinet. No date for a vote has been set, and it was not clear whether it would pass.
The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services.
It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships.
“These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water, and fuel,” the PMA said.
Smotrich said his decision came against the “delegitimization campaign” by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally.
The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism.
Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system.
The PMA said depositors’ funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally.
Smotrich, under US pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025.
In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His latest decision came hours after the UK and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank.
The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was “outrageous.”
Egypt backs ‘pressure on Israel’ but says Gaza actions need approval
- Foreign ministry says foreign delegations seeking to visit border area with Gaza must receive prior official approval
CAIRO: Egypt said on Wednesday that it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel” to lift its blockade on Gaza, but added that any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval through official channels.
Egypt “asserts the importance of putting pressure on Israel to end the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip,” the foreign ministry said as hundreds of activists in a Gaza-bound convoy head to the Egyptian border on their way to the besieged Palestinian territory, but added “we will not consider any requests or respond to any invitations submitted outside the framework defined by the regulatory guidelines and the mechanisms followed in this regard.”
Israeli strike kills one in Lebanon’s south
- Health ministry says Israeli drone strike hit the town of Beit Lif
BEIRUT: One person was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon, the health ministry reported, the latest deadly attack despite a November ceasefire.
“The raid carried out by an enemy Israeli drone on the town of Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in one martyr and three people injured,” read a statement from the ministry.
The official National News Agency said the strike targeted a house’s courtyard in the town, adding that a missile hit the homeowner’s car.
Israel has regularly bombed its northern neighbor since the November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with militant group Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.
The agreement required Hezbollah fighters to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle all military infrastructure to its south.
It also required Israel to withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in five positions it deems “strategic.”
