Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

We are pausing our live coverage of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza now. Here’s a recap of today’s developments:

As we reported in our previous post, President Trump said there was “real starvation” in Gaza and said the US would be setting up food centres, where people could walk in and there would be “no boundaries” or fences.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that 14 more people have died of malnourishment in the last 24 hours, and the BBC continues to hear eyewitness accounts of the struggle to find food.

One man told the BBC he tried to access the supplies which came in from one of 30 trucks from Egypt yesterday but it was "taken over" by desperate crowds and groups of thieves.

Another, a high school student, said he went to the Netzarim crossing to buy some aid, “but no one was willing to sell it”.

There have also been air drops of aid into Gaza, but the BBC's Jeremy Bowen says they won't make much of a difference on the ground.

Israel says it is trying to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, with ten-hour pauses in fighting in some areas to allow aid to flow in.

At the weekend, the Israeli military said "designated secure routes" would be in place from 06:00 to 23:00 to "enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys".

Those are today's key lines, and you can read the full story here.

Image source, PA

President Trump had a lot to say about Gaza when he spoke to the media during his trip to Scotland today. Here's a recap of the key lines:

On hunger and starvation:

Trump said he was “not particularly convinced” by Israeli denials of starvation in Gaza. He has seen the pictures on TV, he said, and the children “look hungry.”

"That's real starvation stuff... and you can't fake that."

On humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip:

Trump said the US will set up food centres in Gaza, "where the people can walk in and no boundaries, we're not going to have fences."

“We want to get the children fed," he said, adding that "so much, when you do something there, gets taken by Hamas."

On Israeli hostages being held by Hamas:

The US president said that "in some cases" Israel knows where Hamas is holding the hostages, and talked about how hard it is to make a deal.

Hamas had become "very difficult," Trump said, "when you get down to the final 20, they won’t release them, because that's their shield."

We're now seeing photos of Palestinians collecting aid that has been dropping into the Gaza Strip via parachutes.

Two planes - one from Jordan and another from the UAE - have released supplies today.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Jordan’s air force has carried out aid drops into Gaza, with parcels including food supplies, tinned goods, sugar, rice and baby formula.

Click below to watch.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, aid deliveries have continued today after the Israeli military on Sunday announced "a local tactical pause in military activity" after aid organisations warned of mass starvation.

Here's a recap of what the Israeli military said in its earlier statement:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the pause in activity would last from 10:00 to 20:00 (07:00-17:00 GMT)

• The pause covers three areas - al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City and will occur every day until further notice, according to the military
• The IDF said "designated secure routes" would be in place "permanently" from 06:00 to 23:00 to "enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys"
• It also said it "will continue to support humanitarian efforts alongside ongoing manoeuvring and offensive operations against terrorist organisations"

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC that aid deliveries during the pause were a "drop in the ocean" and that the next few days are "make or break".

Image source, UN

"The wholesale destruction of Gaza is intolerable" and "must stop," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says.

He is making those comments as he opens a United Nations conference dedicated to the two-state solution for Israel and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel rejects this proposal.

Guterres says that nothing can justify Hamas's 7 October attacks, nor can anything justify the starvation of Gaza's population and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians.

He says that today's conference must serve as a decisive turning point towards implementing the two-state solution.

Both Israel and the US are boycotting the meeting.

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK and the US can do "our very best to alleviate" the situation in Gaza.

The prime minister has been meeting Trump at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire - you can follow along here on our other live page.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Starmer thanked Trump for his work on the issue and added: "I think that if we can work not just on the pressing issues of the ceasefire, but also on this issue of getting humanitarian aid in at volume, at speed, and then we've discussed a plan for what then happens afterwards, I think we can do our very best to alleviate those situations.”

Starmer also told reporters the situation on the ground in Gaza is "intolerable" and images of starving children have been "revolting" and there is a "sense of revulsion in the British public at what they are seeing".

Sophie Williams
Reporting from Jerusalem

Abu Omar says his relative Mohammed was shot dead near Netzarim while trying to get aid on Sunday.

“We were just sitting there and he was sitting right next to me. We were hiding when a bullet pierced through his heart,” he tells a BBC freelance reporter.

Mohammed had told Omar that it had been a long time since he had eaten bread.

A spokesman of al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said that victims were brought in on Sunday following an Israeli shooting which hit civilians waiting for humanitarian assistance.

The IDF told the BBC in a statement that a “gathering of suspects was identified adjacent to IDF troops, endangering them. The troops operated to prevent the suspects from approaching them and fired warning shots.”

“The IDF is not aware of any casualties as a result of warning shots,” the statement added.

Trump is asked what alternatives he is looking at for getting the hostages out if there is no ceasefire, and he says there are a "couple of alternatives" and some are "pretty strong".

He says the "most sensible" is "talk and negotiation", but reiterates his earlier remark that Hamas uses them as a "shield".

He says he previously said that "the number is going to be at a point where you're not going to able to get them back unless you're going to be very energetic, or to put it in a different way, unless you're going to be very ruthless, violent".

"It's a bad situation to be in, very bad," he says.

Image source, Reuters

More now from President Trump, who is meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland today.

“We want to get the children fed," Trump says, describing the situation in Gaza as "terrible" and adding "we have to help on a humanitarian basis".

Dealing with Hamas is "difficult", he says, saying that now they have fewer hostages it will be harder to make a deal because the group uses them as a "shield" and "when they give them up, they no longer have a shield".

But Trump says he doesn't think "it can work that way" and says he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are "coming up with various plans".

Trump adds that "in some cases" they know where Hamas has the hostages, but he also runs through some of the arguments for and against different approaches to how they might be retrieved.

"We're going to set up food centres where people can walk in,” he says, adding that these will have “no boundaries,” saying it’s “crazy” that people can currently see food sat behind fences but cannot access it.

Our live team colleagues are covering Trump's meeting with Starmer today, you can follow that here.

We've just had the latest death toll from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

It says that 100 people have died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the war started to 59,921.

There were an additional 382 injuries, it adds, bringing the total number to 145,233.

The new toll comes despite a military pause in parts of the Gaza Strip, which is in effect from 10:00 - 20:00 local time (08:00 - 18:00 BST).

We know from an earlier update that 14 people died of malnutrition in the last 24 hours, but it's not clear at what time or where the attacks that killed the remaining 86 took place.

As we've been reporting, US President Donald Trump is addressing the media alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland.

Trump has just told the assembled journalists that there is real starvation in Gaza, adding that the US will set up food centres in the territory.

We'll bring you more on this shortly.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) have both released reports today in which they accuse Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

B'Tselem says, external its analysis of Israel's policies alongside statements from politicians and military leaders "leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking co-ordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip".

PHRI , externalhas also analysed Israel's military campaign, with a focus on the health systems, and says it shows evidence of a "deliberate and systemic dismantling of Gaza's health and life-sustaining systems".

Both organisations accuse Israel of genocide, a claim that Israel has long, strongly refuted as "antisemitic", with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the war in Gaza as "just".

Sophie Williams
Reporting from Jerusalem

Ahmad is a high school student in Gaza who is still waiting to graduate. On Sunday he went to the Netzarim crossing in search of food.

“We’re here in Netzarim to try and buy aid but no one is willing to sell,” he told the BBC’s freelance reporter in Gaza.

Ahmad is just one of thousands of high school students who have not been able to take their exams.

According to Unicef, more than 650,000 students have had no access to education since the start of the war.

“We should be holding books right now, heading to university with our degrees. This is not okay,” he says.

Emir Nader
Reporting from Jerusalem

I've been speaking to Ahmed, a father who has been living in a tent in al-Mawasi - the displacement camp in Khan Younis.

He shares a tent with 10 others, including his two children, and tells me that even though 30 aid trucks arrived from Egypt yesterday, it was impossible for him to get his hands on any.

The truck was immediately "taken over" by desperate crowds and organised groups of thieves who sell it at high prices, he tells me.

Ahmed says he's tried to get aid at the "American" sites - referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are guarded by armed security.

He says he has seen "scenes that can’t be described” there, telling me of gunfire, teargas and casualties.

Image source, PA Media

We've just heard from US President Donald Trump, who was asked by journalists at a news conference during his visit to Scotland if he agrees with the Israeli government’s assessment that there is no starvation in Gaza.

Trump replies: "Not particularly."

He says he’s seen them on TV and "those children look very hungry".

The US president adds that the US is "giving a lot of money" to support the aid effort in Gaza - and that Hamas has stolen much of that.

Hamas has denied it has been stealing aid.

• Our colleagues on another live page are following more about his meeting with Starmer, where he talks about Gaza and other issues

Many Israelis ask why the country is still fighting in Gazapublished at 12:52 British Summer Time 28 July

12:52 BST 28 July

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israeli media had a scathing reaction to the measures announced by the military to alleviate the growing hunger crisis in Gaza, blamed by the UN, aid agencies and even some of Israel’s allies - including the UK - on Israel’s restrictions on the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid.

The head of the World Health Organization said Palestinians in the territory were suffering from man-made mass starvation.

The general view is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to reverse his own policies given growing international outrage over images of emaciated children and reports of Palestinians starving to death.

Israel, however, has consistently denied there is hunger in Gaza, despite the overwhelming evidence, and rejected accusations of being responsible for the crisis there.

Netanyahu has often been accused of prolonging the war for political gains, including to keep alive his governing coalition, which relies on the support of ultranationalist parties.

The announcement of military pauses for aid distribution and humanitarian corridors came as the Knesset, Israel's parliament, went on a summer recess, which means that Netanyahu’s government seems to be safe, for now.

His more hard line supporters, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, had in the past threatened to quit the coalition if more aid was sent to Gaza.

In fact, they publicly oppose any aid to the population there, have defended the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and its resettlement with Jews.

Many in Israel have been asking for a long time why, almost 22 months after the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, they are still fighting in Gaza, as Hamas as an organised group has already been defeated.

Meanwhile, their country’s international isolation is growing, as the suffering in Gaza shocks the world. There will be more pressure for it to strike an agreement with Hamas, the only way to boost the delivery of humanitarian aid and prevent an even worse crisis.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The international community is racing to get aid into Gaza today, as a second 10-hour humanitarian pause in military activity takes place in parts of the territory.

Here are the key updates:

• Israel says 120 aid trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and other international agencies yesterday
• However, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher tells the BBC that aid deliveries during the pause were a "drop in the ocean" and that the next few days are "make or break"
• The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says14 people, including two children, have died in the past 24 hours from malnourishment - 93 people have died since 20 July
• Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said yesterday: "There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza"

At the time of writing, our international editor Jeremy Bowen is on a Jordanian plane delivering aid to Gaza - you can watch his video in our earlier post.

As we just reported, our international editor Jeremy Bowen is onboard a Jordanian plane, dropping aid - via parachutes - into Gaza.

He says the aid "won't change a great deal" - and that only a sustained increase in road convoys will deliver the quantity of aid that's needed.

Watch his report from the plane below:

We've just received these pictures from our international editor Jeremy Bowen, who's in Amman, Jordan, and about to join an air drop of aid supplies over Gaza. There are two planes heading out today - one provided by Jordan and another from the UAE.

Pilots have told him they aim to drop the boxes, which have parachutes, over empty areas to reduce the risk of injuring anyone.

We'll be hearing more from him shortly.