Location at an overview: Israel and Hamas argue about food for Gaza

Dispute over food aid for the needy population in the Gaza Strip difficulty the efforts to take a ceasefire between Israel and Islamist Hamas. Hamas insisted that the UN and the Palestinian crescent moon again control the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the “Wall Street Journal” quoted Arabic agents. The controversial Gaza Humanitrian Foundation (GHF), which on behalf of Israel is currently taking care of the distribution of help, must be excluded.

According to the report, the proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, which is currently negotiated in the Qatarian capital Doha, stipulates that the UN aid organizations take part in the distribution of food aids, but do not exercise control. The US specialist Steve Witkoff travels to the Middle East, according to the spokeswoman for the US State Department, Tammy Bruce to revive the efforts for a ceasefire and to set up an auxiliary corridor in the Gaza Strip.

USA hope for ceasefire deal

The Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported for the US news page “Axios”, citing two informed sources, Witkoff wanted to meet in Rome on Thursday with senior catari and Israeli representatives. In the meantime, negotiators of Hamas and Israel led indirect negotiations on the last controversial points in Doha. The “Wall Street Journal” wrote the control of food aid, the “Wall Street Journal” wrote

Witkoff hopes to be able to complete a deal via an ceasefire and freedom of hostage in Doha by the end of this week, the “Times of Israel” quoted an informed source. The Hamas threatens to cancel the negotiations should not be fulfilled, wrote the “Wall Street Journal”

Since the collapse of a ceasefire in March, only a few relief supplies have come to Gaza. Israel and the UN accuse each other to hinder the distribution of relief supplies. According to UN organizations, reports now hungry as well as all residents of the sealed coastal strip. According to the health authority in Gaza controlled by the Hamas, 15 people died of hunger over the past day, most of them children. This cannot be checked independently.

Israel denies famine

The “Times of Israel” quoted a rank -high Israeli security officer, according to which the military did not find a famine in Gaza. However, measures to stabilize the humanitarian situation would have to be taken. According to the newspaper, the officer admitted that the amount of relief goods that people reach in the sealed coastal strip have recently dropped significantly. However, he accused UN organizations of not picking up and distributed food and other relief supplies.

According to the responsible Israeli authority of Cogat, around 950 trucks with relief goods at the border crossings Kerem Schalom and Zikim are waiting to be picked up by the United Nations organizations. A spokeswoman for the UN aid for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (Unrwa) said that around 600 trucks with food, medication, diapers and other hygiene articles were available in Egypt and Jordan. However, they would not get an entry permit from Israel in the Gaza Strip.

EU chief diplomat: Israel is said to stop killings

Israel accuses Unrwa that it was infiltrated by Hamas. The Israeli government has therefore hired all cooperation with the relief organization. Instead, Israel introduced a new distribution system with the help of the GHF some time ago to bypass the UN aid organizations and other initiatives. Since then there have been reports of fatal incidents near the distribution points of the controversial foundation. Unrwa director Phillipe Lazarrini calls the centers “sadistic death traps”.

The EU foreign commissioner Kaja Kallas also criticized Israel’s approach. The “killing of civilians” who were looking for help at the GHF distribution centers was “not to justify”, she wrote about X. In conversation with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, she emphasized that the Israeli army had to stop killing people at distribution points for help. If commitments are not met, “all options remained on the table”.

Israel’s Foreign Minister: Hamas leads lies campaign

Saar confirmed a conversation with Kallas. “I told her that Hamas has a lying campaign,” he wrote on X. “Hamas is the Hamas that shoots civilians and tortures when they try to pick up the relief goods.” The international community should not fall into the trap of terrorists.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) meanwhile defended his position on why Germany did not join an appeal of 28 countries-including 20 EU countries-for an end to the war in Gaza. Merz referred to a previously decided declaration by the European Council. This is “practically content (…) with what the letter is now expressed,” said Merz in Berlin. He once again described the situation in Gaza as “no longer acceptable”. He wants to “now reproduce the Israeli government with great emphasis to stop the massive military interventions, enable an armistice and, above all, to enable humanitarian aid for the population there,” said Merz.

Guterres “horrified” about Israeli attacks on UN buildings

UN General Secretary António Guterres, meanwhile, was also shocked in the center of the Gaza Strip in the course of reports on attacks on the United Nations buildings in the course of a new soil offensive in the city of Deir Al-Balah and requires protection against violence.

“I am horrified by the attacks on UN facilities, including institutions of the UN office for project services and the World Health Organization (WHO), including the main camp of the WHO,” said Guterres before the UN Security Council in New York.

The World Health Organization WHO announced on Monday that Israel’s military stormed its facility in Deir al-Balah and arrested employees. Employee accommodation was also attacked. Male WHO employees and male relatives were laid in handcuffs, pulled out, interrogated and searched with a weapon.

The Israeli army said that shots on their own soldiers had been fired in the area. These would have reacted with fire in the direction from which the shots came. However, the army did not explicitly said whether the shots from WHO facilities were given.