Aid dropped in dangerous military zones two days in a rowpublished at 15:37 British Summer Time 29 July

15:37 BST 29 July

By Benedict Garman

BBC video filmed from inside a plane during an aid airdrop shows packages being dropped around 1km (0.6 miles) into the Israeli military’s declared “dangerous combat zone”.

We geolocated the view out of the window as Jeremy Bowen's team filmed packages falling from a plane over Gaza yesterday.

The direction they are travelling is not towards an area where there is a humanitarian pause in military operations in effect. They are descending over the unsafe militarised zone.

Around the time Bowen was in a plane filming that clip, video emerged on social media, filmed by a Palestinian on the ground, of an aid drop falling into Gaza City.

By geolocating the point of view of that street level video to Omar Ben Alkhatab - First St in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, we can see that the aid packages are indeed landing into an area which the Israeli military’s map declares a “dangerous combat zone”.

It’s unclear exactly how far into this zone they fell.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. We identified two separate aid drops, which previously landed around 1km (0.6 miles) into territory Gazans have been prohibited to enter by the Israel Defense Forces.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, at least 112 people were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number past a grim milestone of more than 60,000 since the start of the war.

Local hospitals say people were killed in Israeli air strikes and gunfire - many while seeking aid.

In the central Nuseirat area, al-Awda hospital said at least 30 were killed, including 14 women and 12 children, in attacks on homes overnight and this morning.

At least 14 were then killed near an aid distribution point, it says, with more than 100 injured.

We’ve also been told that four people were killed in a tent overnight in the coastal zone of al-Mawasi - where Israel says it is pausing fighting for 10 hours during the day to help aid distribution.

Nine others were killed in Khan Younis, local hospital sources and witnesses say. Al-Shifa Hospital said this morning that two people were killed in a missile strike on an apartment in Gaza City.

A later strike killed five members of one family. Rescuers have been struggling to reach casualties from another strike.

We have been asking the Israeli military for a response to these figures.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent, at Downing Street

I’m stood in Downing Street as a special cabinet meeting is under way inside No 10 to discuss the situation in Gaza.

We haven’t seen any cabinet ministers walking up the street so the assumption is most are joining remotely.

Not having some of those ministers sitting at the table in person might be a relief for the prime minister, considering some of them have been lobbying for him to change his position and follow France in recognising a Palestinian state.

That would be a largely symbolic gesture but an important one morally, they argue.

The government's position is that they will do so as part of a peace process at a time when it would have the most impact.

It will be interesting to see if there is any shift in that stance coming out of this meeting.

Will the UK follow in France's footsteps and recognise a Palestinian state?published at 14:02 British Summer Time 29 July

14:02 BST 29 July

Jeremy Bowen
International editor

The destruction Israel has wreaked on Gaza will take years for the Palestinians to get over - but it will also take years for Israel to get over the damage it has caused to its moral standing.

The perceptions and the way that people look at Israel - about its moral standing - have changed, and there's increasing realisation of that within Israel itself.

Two Israeli human rights organisations came out and said that Israel was committing genocide yesterday and today there's a Cabinet meeting in the UK where they will be talking about Britain potentially recognising a Palestinian state.

Keir Starmer appears to be moving towards that idea as he’s facing a great deal of pressure within the Labour Party.

Of course, there is no Palestinian state; it is an aspiration.

But it is also something that has been the policy of the UK and many other countries - including the US - for many years.

The realities on the ground mean the two-state solution has effectively become meaningless - because of the expansion of Jewish settlements, the opposition of the Israeli government, and the way that the territory where a Palestinian state would physically exist has been eroded and taken by the Israelis for themselves.

Even this morning, there’s been talk in the Israeli papers of Israel annexing - in tandem with pressure from the extreme right - the West Bank, which is also territory the Palestinians want for their state.

However, there is now the question of how you take a concrete step to try to make the two-state solution real.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has decided that the way to do that is through recognition. The French and British have been discussing this for months at the diplomatic level.

So the question is whether Britain - perhaps at the UN General Assembly in September - will join with the French to do it.

Image source, EPA

We reported earlier that UK government ministers had been called back from Parliament's summer recess for a meeting this afternoon with the prime minister.

Well, that's due to kick off in about 10 minutes at 14:00 BST, with some ministers joining in-person and others remotely.

The focus of the gathering will be the situation in Gaza, as senior MPs prepare to discuss wider peace plans and aid deliveries to the territory.

It also comes a day after Keir Starmer travelled to Scotland to meet US President Donald Trump - while there Starmer handed over a European-led peace plan for Gaza for Trump to review.

As soon as we get an update on what's been discussed today, we'll let you know.

Jordanian and Emirati planes have airdropped parcels of food and aid into Gaza in recent days.

We're now seeing pictures of Palestinians opening some of those food parcels, revealing the contents to be food items like tinned chickpeas, bags of flour and packages of dry pasta.

Israel began allowing international airdrops of food in recent days, but aid agencies have warned that this measure falls short of what is needed.

At the weekend, both the International Rescue Committee and the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa described airdrops as "expensive" and incapable of delivering "the volume or the quality" needed.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has criticised the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which is supported by the US and Israel.

The report says most of the packages are not ready-to-eat and claims its distribution plan "would lead to mass starvation, even if it was able to function without the appalling levels of violence".

"The fact that people continue to risk being shot or caught in stampedes at distribution sites indicates the extremely desperate level of hunger that the population is experiencing," the IPC's Famine Review Committee concludes.

There have been regular reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking aid at GHF sites - the total number killed exceeds 1,000 according to the latest update from the Hamas-run health ministry.

Image source, Reuters

• A UN-backed monitor issued an alert this morning saying that "the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip"
• "Famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City," the alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns
• It comes as Palestinians in the besieged Strip tell the BBC's Gaza correspondent, "we keep hearing about aid coming in, but we never see any of it" - some have accused armed gangs of looting aid trucks and selling the contents on the black market at high prices
• Israel's foreign minister has rejected accusations that it's withholding aid, saying it's a "lie" - here's a look at what aid measures Israel has introduced
• In Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll since 7 October 2023 has now surpassed 60,000
• Meanwhile, in Scotland, Donald Trump has been asked how he plans to address Israel's prime minister on the situation - the US president said: "we're working together to try and get things straightened out"

As a reminder, the IPC does not itself say whether a famine is happening - but the global authority does provide a criteria, which aid agencies and governments can use to make a declaration about famine.

Image source, PA Media

Over in Scotland, US President Trump says he's "working to get things straightened out" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump made the comments to reporters while on a visit to the UK to open a golf course. Yesterday, he sat down with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and said that children in Gaza "look very hungry".

You can follow Trump's visit to Scotland in our separate live page.

Safe spaces in Gaza are "becoming virtually non-existent," this morning's IPC report says, as the population is increasingly confined to ever-shrinking areas not designated as military zones or subject to displacement orders".

It cites findings by the UN's humanitarian coordination body (OCHA), which says that people in Gaza are "confined to ever-shrinking spaces" and as of 20 July about 88% of the Gaza Strip is within Israeli-militarised zones or under evacuation orders.

Image source, EPA

Earlier, we brought you the details from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which is a UN-backed assessment.

We also provided details about what the criteria is for declaring a famine - as the IPC does not itself do this.

That report from the IPC does, however, say that two out of the three famine thresholds have been breached in parts of Gaza, external.

Here's the latest data from the global initiative on the current situation in parts of the Strip:

• Food consumption – Data shows that more than one in three people - 39% - are now going days at a time without eating - the IPC threshold for this element is at least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food
• Acute malnutrition – In Gaza City, the IPC update says malnutrition levels among children under five have quadrupled in two months, reaching 16.5% - the IPC says if this rate reaches 30%, it meets one of the criterions for famine
• Acute malnutrition and reports of starvation-related deaths – The report says these are increasingly common, but notes that collecting data in Gaza is "very difficult" under the current circumstances

The death toll in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has reached 60,034, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The number of those injured now stands at 145,870, it says in its regular update.

It follows 112 deaths and 637 injures reported in the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry, which also says further victims are thought to be under rubble and on the streets unable to be reached.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

Residents across the Gaza Strip say they are rapidly losing hope of escaping devastating starvation gripping the territory, despite Israel’s announcement of a temporary humanitarian pause aimed at facilitating the entry of large scale international aid.

Two days after the humanitarian pause was declared, many Gazans say they have seen little to no improvement in their access to food.

Despite Israel’s declared humanitarian window, only a limited number of trucks - fewer than 150, according reports from local journalists in Gaza - have entered the Strip in the past two days, far short of the hundreds needed daily.

The ongoing chaos and absence of a unified authority to co-ordinate safe distribution inside Gaza has made it nearly impossible for aid to reach those most in need.

The temporary pause, in three areas declared by the Israeli military, was intended to facilitate the safe passage of humanitarian aid through designated corridors in northern and central Gaza.

Airdrops by Jordanian and Emirati planes also resumed.

However, many Gazans warn that unless land access improves significantly and security for convoys is restored, acute malnutrition and hunger will continue to deepen across the Strip.

Image source, Reuters

UN agencies have issued a joint response to today's famine declaration by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The World Food Programme's executive director says that awaiting the official IPC confirmation of famine to provide "life-saving food aid" that's "desperately" needed, Cindy McCain says, is "unconscionable".

"We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation," she says, adding: "The longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise".

Unicef, the UN's agency for the welfare of children, goes on to say that "emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza".

The agency's chief, Catherine Russell, says there needs to be "immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access across Gaza" to scale up food, water and medicine deliveries.

"Without that, mothers and fathers will continue to face a parent’s worst nightmare, powerless to save a starving child from a condition we are able to prevent," Russell adds.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

Some Palestinians in Gaza are telling the BBC they have not eaten in two days, accusing armed gangs of looting incoming aid trucks and selling the contents on the black market at high prices.

Bakr Salah, 35, who is a nurse at Al-Shifa Hospital and father of two, describes a desperate scene in Gaza City.

“Yesterday they airdropped a very small amount of aid in our area,” he says.

“Thousands of people fought over it. Honestly, what was dropped wouldn’t feed half a neighbourhood.”

“My children are starving, they have not eaten a single meal for two days. We keep hearing about aid coming in, but we never see any of it,” he adds.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, Bilal Atallah, 45, a father of five, says he spent the entire day waiting for food.

“I had no choice but to buy flour from the looters who had stolen it from aid trucks,” he says. “It cost me $35 for one kilogram of flour.”

His account echoes those of many others across Gaza, where organised criminal groups reportedly intercept aid convoys and resell basic supplies such as flour and canned goods at prices most families cannot afford.

Image source, EPA

As that IPC report was released, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar was addressing reporters.

Asked if Israel is withholding aid, Sa'ar says it's a "lie" and the “reality” is that his country is instead facilitating the entrance of aid.

Since yesterday, he says, more than 200 aid trucks entered Gaza, and says that "anyone who wants to do that, can do that.”

The foreign minister says humanitarian corridors were opened, and points to the tactical pauses announced on the weekend from 10:00 to 20:00 for trucks to “safely” to distribute aid. He also says Israel initiated air drops on Saturday, adding: “There’s no route we’re not using."

According to the report just published by the UN-backed food security body, “humanitarian aid remains extremely restricted due to requests for humanitarian access being repeatedly denied and frequent security incidents”.

Image source, Reuters

The IPC - a global initiative by UN agencies, aid groups and governments - does not itself declare whether a famine is happening.

What it does do is provide the analysis that allows governments, organisations and agencies to issue statements or declarations about famine.

What is needed to meet the criteria of famine?The IPC has a formal definition of famine, with three elements:

1. At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food and face starvation or destitution
2. More than 30% of children under five suffer acute malnutrition
3. Two adults or four children out of 10,000 people die from starvation or malnutrition on a daily basis

Difficulty collecting data in Gaza

Israel restricts aid agencies’ ability to operate in Gaza. Amande Bazerolle, who is in charge of MSF's emergency response in Gaza, told the AFP news agency that ongoing fighting and aid blockades mean that “currently we are unable to conduct the surveys that would allow us to formally classify famine".

Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East programme director for the NGO Action Against Hunger, quoted by AFP, said the "continuous displacements" of Gazans ordered by the Israeli military, along with restrictions on movement in the most affected regions "complicate things enormously".

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations of a starvation taking place in Gaza. Speaking on Sunday, he said: “What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza."

More now from that UN-backed assessment which says the "worst-case scenario of famine" is now unfolding in Gaza.

• The IPC says only "immediate action to end hostilities" and "unimpeded, large-scale" humanitarian access into Gaza can stop further deaths and "catastrophic human suffering"
• Access to food and other essential items and services has "plummeted to unprecedented levels"
• Between May and July 2025, the proportion of households experiencing extreme hunger has doubled
• In Gaza City, rates of malnutrition grew from 4.4% in May to 16.5% in July, where two-fifths of pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished in June
• Gaza's north faces similar challenges and is a "major source of concern", however, it cannot be verified due to lack of data

On the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) a group backed by Israel and the US:

• The IPC's Famine Review Committee says its analysis of the food packages provided by the GHF shows "their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation"
• The report says most of the GHF food items are "not ready-to-eat and require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable"
• It also criticises how accessing the GHF distribution points "requires long, high-risk journeys, with unequal access across governorates"

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has issued an alert saying "the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip".

The alert from the UN-backed review says: "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths".

"Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City," it says.

The IPC - a global initiative by UN agencies, aid groups and governments to identify famine conditions - said in May that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million Palestinians was at "critical risk" of famine and faced "extreme levels of food insecurity".

The alert is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza and the IPC says it will carry out further analysis "without delay".

Image source, Reuters

Yesterday, a range of leading UN figures spoke on the situation in Gaza. Here's what they said:

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: "The wholesale destruction of Gaza is intolerable. It must stop"
• UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher: "The next few days are really make or break. We need to deliver at a much, much greater scale. We need vast amounts of aid going in, much faster"
• Ben Majekodunmi, chief of staff of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa: "Words of outrage and condemnation are no longer adequate for what is unfolding. There must be immediate action to impose a long overdue ceasefire, to reverse deepening starvation, and to release every hostage"

Both Israel and Hamas blame each other for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said: "There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza."