Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Hamas says it will no longer engage in truce talks amid a catastrophic hunger crisis created by Israel’s blockade.
Gaza City, May 6 (RHC)-- Hamas will no longer engage in ceasefire negotiations with Israel, seeing no point in doing so “as long as the hunger war and extermination war” continues on the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian group’s senior official.
Basem Naim told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that the international community must pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings” in Gaza.
“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Naim’s remarks came a day after Netanyahu said the population of the enclave “will be moved” in an upcoming expanded military operation by Israeli forces that would reportedly entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced multiple times since Israel began its war on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has grown increasingly dire since a total blockade was imposed by Israel on March 2, causing widespread food shortages as Israel carries out deadly attacks across the enclave.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Palestinians are “struggling to find food to feed their children” with some “forced to eat expired or rotten food”, while others cannot find any form of sustenance.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said this week that food supplies in Gaza have now “completely run out” in both local markets and humanitarian distribution centres.
“The population is once again at extreme risk of famine,” the PRCS said in its latest situation update. “There is an inability to meet even the minimum daily needs of over a million displaced people.”
According to the PRCS, only “limited quantities of legumes” are currently being distributed to community kitchens, as all previously stocked aid has been depleted.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) echoed these concerns, calling for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid and warning against its politicisation. “The level of need among civilians in Gaza right now is overwhelming,” said ICRC spokesperson Christian Cardon.
“Under international humanitarian law, Israel has an obligation to use all means available to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population under its control are met,” he added.
