Image source, Reuters

An aid worker for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza City has warned that aid air drops "might be something that helps", but would be "insufficient" given the fact that two million people are desperate for food across the Strip.

Caroline Willemen tells the Today programme she is concerned that "given the level of desperation that people have, when you drop food from the sky like this, how will people get access to it?”

"Everybody is desperate," she says, adding that the "most vulnerable might not be able to access it because it will be a very chaotic scene".

Instead, Willemen calls for a "free flow of humanitarian assistance coordinated by the UN in a safe manner, like the United Nations does in any other crisis in the world".

She adds that the number of patients enrolled in MSF's malnutrition programme has "quadrupled since May" and suggests that 25% of children under five screened qualified as malnourished.

The crisis is impacting MSF staff too, with Willemen saying that many of her colleagues come to work "not having eaten in 24 hours or 48 hours".

“The very healthcare workers of Gaza who are meant to treat the ill, the wounded, and the dying here in Gaza are themselves very hungry, are desperate to feed their children," she adds. "This is something I have never seen in my nine years working for MSF."

In the last few days, we've been hearing testimonies from Gazans struggling with the worsening shortage of food in the Strip.

Hedaya al-Muta'wi tells the BBC her 18-month-old son Mohammed is suffering from malnutrition and now weighs just 6kg (13lbs).

You can learn more about Hedaya's story in the clip below:

Israel appears more interested in dismissing criticism than addressing the crisispublished at 08:59 British Summer Time 26 July

08:59 BST 26 July

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Pressure is mounting on Israel as images of emaciated children and accounts of people starving to death in Gaza shock the world. But, for now, the Israeli authorities seem more interested in dismissing the international criticism than really addressing the causes of this crisis.

The United Nations, aid agencies and many countries say this is the result of the restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid imposed by Israel as it continues with its war against Hamas. UN officials say food is being used as a weapon, a war crime.

Israel firmly denies the accusations, despite the overwhelming and indisputable evidence that its policies are behind what we are seeing in Gaza: a very limited amount of aid is getting in, and what is there is not reaching everyone.

Yesterday, an Israeli official said countries would be allowed to drop aid by air, an announcement that the UN rejected as a distraction. And it does feel this is more like a PR exercise to alleviate some of international pressure rather than a meaningful decision to really help Palestinians in Gaza in a significant way.

Israel has banned the entry of international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, meaning we cannot report from inside the territory. So we rely on trusted Palestinian freelancers who are themselves starving.

The only way to alleviate this crisis is by allowing unrestricted aid into Gaza, and this will probably only happen with a ceasefire. For now, negotiations are deadlocked and there is no indication that any kind of deal is imminent.

Image source, EPA

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says nearly one in three people in Gaza hasn't been eating for days at a time, adding that malnutrition is rising - with 90,000 children and women now in need of urgent treatment.

The WFP says it's still delivering aid to Gaza, with more than 22,000 metric tonnes of food sent since border crossings reopened in May, but warns this is just "a tiny fraction of what a population of over two million people need to survive".

In a statement released on Friday, the organisation says its efforts are being held back by several issues - including the limited approval of aid delivery requests, a delay in convoys and a shortage of transport routes.

The WFP also says Israeli authorities had "provided assurances that more trucks will be able to carry food aid into Gaza".

"Since 23 July, WFP has seen faster food convoy approvals and movements but requires a sustained commitment to avert the ongoing humanitarian crisis," it adds.

Image source, EPA

"News that Israel will allow countries to air drop aid into Gaza has come far too late – but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route," wrote Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Mirror, external on Friday night.

In the opinion piece, he described the images of "starvation and desperation in Gaza" as "utterly horrifying".

That's why, he said, the UK should act. His proposals include bringing more Palestinian children to the UK for specialist medical treatment, as well as playing a role in air dropping aid into Gaza.

He said the UK is already working with Jordan to get British aid on to planes and into the Strip.

Starmer also said that "recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps" to achieve peace in the region, although "it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis".

This comment came after a third of MPs signed a letter, calling on the government to recognise a Palestinian state.

Image source, Reuters

We're resuming our coverage of the latest developments from Gaza.

Last evening, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suggested the UK might play a role in dropping aid into the Gaza Strip by air.

This follows Israel’s announcement that it will allow foreign countries to air drop supplies in the coming days. However, a Jordanian official told the BBC's Lyse Doucet their country was waiting for permission to go ahead with the air drops.

The UK has been involved in previous efforts to send supplies into Gaza by air – a method aid agencies have cautioned is an inefficient way to deliver aid.

While air dropping aid could help, the UN says they "are the most expensive & inefficient" way to get aid into the area, calling the move a "distraction to inaction" by the Israeli government.

As warnings of starvation in Gaza intensify, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says the food shortage crisis has reached "new and astonishing levels of desperation", with almost a third of Gazans "not eating for days".

We’ll keep bringing you all the key updates throughout the day. Stay with us.

Jenna Moon
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

UK, Germany and France have called on Israel to "immediately lift restrictions on flow of aid" as Palestinians in Gaza face a worsening crisis of malnutrition and starvation.

In a joint statement, the countries call for an end to the war and urge Israel to ensure the "most basic needs of the civilian population" of Gaza to be met "without any further delay".

The statement comes after the French president pledged to recognise a Palestinian state - a move which Keir Starmer indicated the UK would not imminently replicate, citing the need for it to be part of a "wider plan" for peace in the region.

Meanwhile, people in Gaza face a deepening starvation crisis, with the UN's food aid agency telling AFP almost a third of Gazans are "not eating for days". One mother said her 14-year-old son has lost more than half of his weight.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says nine more people have died of malnutrition in the past 24 hours. A total of 122 people - including 83 children - have died of malnutrition since the war began, according to the ministry.

The impacts of malnutrition are seen most quickly in children and can have a devastating range of effects, our health reporter Smitha Mundasad writes.

In response to mounting pressure, Israel says it will allow other nations to airdrop aid into Gaza - BBC Verify looks at how the method has gone wrong in the past. A Jordanian official also told the BBC it is still waiting for permission to carry out the airdrops of aid.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "considering alternative options" to bring hostages home as US President Donald Trump said Hamas "did not want a deal", referring to ceasefire talks. A senior Hamas official denied to the BBC that the talks had collapsed and mediators Qatar and Egypt say there was "some progress" in the latest talks.

We are pausing our live coverage for now, but you can read more across the BBC News website.

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says that airdrops "are the most expensive & inefficient" way to get aid into Gaza, hours after Israel said it would allow foreign governments to deliver some supplies by air in the coming days.

Phillipe Lazzarini described the move as a "distraction to inaction" by the Israeli government, and described the situation on the ground as "constructed and deliberate mass starvation".

He says UNRWA has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks of food and medical supplies bound for Gaza stuck in Egypt and Jordan.

The Israeli government has repeatedly said the widespread hunger in Gaza is not its fault and has long accused Hamas of stealing food.

Mohammed sucks on an empty baby bottle as his mother Hedaya al-Muta’wi tells the BBC about the dire conditions they're facing as access to food becomes scarcer and scarcer in Gaza.

"Mohammed is suffering from malnutrition due to famine and lack of food. He today weighs 6kg," she says. "He wasn’t like that before, he weighed 9kg and used to eat and drink normally."

Hedaya, who was widowed during the war, says the toddler is suffering from "severe malnutrition", which resulted in a curved back.

He also suffered from hypotonia, or muscle relaxation, but had learned to sit down and stand up "like normal children" as Hedaya gave him physiotherapy sessions. However, the lack of food has now left Mohammed struggling with fatigue and unable to stand on his feet or sit.

"I can’t provide him because I’m alone." she says. "I work hard and labour to provide him with a pack of baby formula milk. I’m so tired, so tired."

How much aid has US and Israel-backed aid organisation distributed?published at 18:50 British Summer Time 25 July

18:50 BST 25 July

By Matt Murphy

Earlier today, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had distributed "millions" of meals during a heated discussion on the Today programme about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday night, the GHF said it had distributed 91 million meals to Gazans since it started operations on 27 May, but that means it is behind on its stated goal of providing 300 million meals to Palestinians during its first 90 days of operations.

Meanwhile, a BBC Verify analysis of GHF figures suggests that the pace of distribution fell in recent weeks from a high of more than 50,000 boxes in mid-June. While the number of boxes delivered has risen in the past few days, it is yet to hit that high-point again.

Mencer said the new GHF delivery system was necessary to "cut Hamas out" of aid distribution operations. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid.

You can watch full exchange between Mencer and BBC presenter Nick Robinson below.

Qatar and Egypt say there has been "some progress" in the latest round of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, seemingly contradicting the downbeat message from the US and Israel today.

In a joint statement, the mediating countries say that a suspension of talks is a natural part of the process to allow for consultations.

It comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff announced his delegation would be leaving Qatar and accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith".

In a social media post earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Witkoff "got it right" and that he was "considering alternative options" to rescue the remaining hostages in Gaza.

But earlier a senior Hamas official insisted to the BBC that ceasefire talks have not collapsed. According to the official, mediators conveyed that the Israeli delegation is expected to return to Doha next week.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Keir Starmer has declined to follow France in recognising Palestinian statehood, saying it should be part of a wider plan that results in a two-state solution.

The announcement by President Macron that France will recognise Palestinian statehood in September prompted unsurprising reactions: Palestinians and Arab nations welcomed the move, Israel and the US did not.

But what does matter is how other western nations respond, including the UK. The French want to generate diplomatic momentum towards talks about a political settlement and they need partners to do this.

For now, the UK government remains unmoved.

In a statement released after he spoke with his French and German counterparts, Starmer said recognising a Palestinian state had to be a “tool of maximum utility”, part of a wider peace plan that ultimately resulted in a two state solution.

The problem for the prime minister is this decision is becoming less about diplomacy and more about politics. He is coming under growing pressure from his MPs and ministers to follow France’s lead.

Emir Nader
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

A long-time humanitarian official in the Biden and Obama administrations and current head of NGO Refugees International says he believes there will be a "famine declaration in parts of Gaza, if not all of it".

Speaking to the BBC, Jeremy Konyndyk says he believes starvation has hit a tipping point with "large numbers of people dying now every single day". He adds these deaths are "outright starvation or disease that would not be killing them if they weren’t starving”.

Without a "radical change" in Israel’s policy on aid entering and being allowed to move freely throughout the Gaza Strip, there is “little standing in the way of total collapse,” Konyndyk says.

“If we continue to see the trends that we're seeing, I believe there will be a famine declaration in parts of Gaza, if not all of it, but of course that [declaration] comes only after all the data can be collected,” Konyndyk says.

“A formal famine declaration tends to be a lagging indicator,” says Konyndyk. “What we know from long experience of seeing how these things play out is the kind of signals we're seeing now, the kind of reports we're seeing now, are the proxy indicators that a famine is occurring.”

Formal famine declarations are typically issued by the UN or governments on the basis of studies by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

A famine declaration has not been issued for Gaza but in the IPC’s last assessment of Gaza released in May 2025 it found a risk of famine with 470,000 people facing catastrophic hunger levels.

Keir Starmer has signalled the UK government will not imminently recognise a Palestinian state.

It comes after he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said France will recognise Palestinian statehood later this year, and more than 200 MPs signed a letter calling on him to do so.

Starmer says he and allies are "working on a pathway to peace in the region" and "the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed into a lasting peace".

He says that he is "unequivocal" that “recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps", but that it "must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis".

He continues: "This is the way to ensure it is a tool of maximum utility to improve the lives of those who are suffering – which of course, will always be our ultimate goal."

As a reminder, it has long been the UK's position that a Palestinian state should co-exist alongside Israel, but successive governments have stopped short of formal recognition.

A joint letter calling on the UK government to formally recognise a Palestinian state has been signed by 221 MPs from across the political spectrum.

The letter reads: "Whilst we appreciate the UK does not have in its power to bring about a free and independent Palestine, UK recognition would have a significant impact...so we urge you to take this step.

It calls on the government to outline "when and how it will act on its long-standing commitment on a two-state solution" at the UN conference in New York next week.

While the UK government has long supported the principle of a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel, it has not yet formally recognised one. Earlier today, France said it would do so later this year.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, PA Media

The announcement by President Emmanuel Macron of his intention to recognise Palestinian statehood puts huge pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to follow suit.

The French have been itching to take this step for some time. They were planning to make an announcement some weeks ago but were forced to delay after Israel and the US attacked Iran's nuclear facilities.

Crucially, France is not recognising a Palestinian state now - it will do so, says Macron, at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

What the French hope is that their announcement will in the meantime generate diplomatic momentum and encourage other nations to join them.

Read more on what this means for Starmer.

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

A senior official in Jordan has told the BBC that the Jordanian military has still not received permission from Israel to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza.

He says Jordan was still sending some food into Gaza on trucks - 50 trucks yesterday, 36 the day before.

He says they were sending as much as they were allowed and emphasises the widely-held view that this was a far more effective way to deliver aid than airdrops.

Earlier today, there were reports that Israel would allow airdrops - possibly by Jordan and the UAE .

We can now bring you more from the joint statement just released by the UK, France and Germany, which states the "time has come to end the war in Gaza".

The countries "urge all parties to bring an end to the conflict by reaching an immediate ceasefire" before calling for the "unconditional release of all hostages" held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023.

"The most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be met without any further delay," they say.

The countries urge Israel to "urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation. Israel must uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law".

"The disarmament of Hamas is imperative, and Hamas must have no role in the future of Gaza," the statement adds.

"Threats of annexation, settlements and acts of settler violence against Palestinians undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution," the statement continues.

The countries reaffirm that they are committed to working towards a "plan for the next phase of Gaza" which will accompany the withdrawal of Israeli forces and removal of Hamas leadership.

Germany, France and the UK have issued a statement calling for Israel to "immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid".

"The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now," a new joint statement from the three countries reads.

"Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable," they add.

We will bring you more from the statement - stick with us.

How aid airdrops in Gaza have gone wrong in the pastpublished at 16:45 British Summer Time 25 July

16:45 BST 25 July

By Merlyn Thomas

Israeli army radio is reporting that foreign countries could carry out airdrops to Gaza in the coming days.

The Times of Israel says that Jordan and the UAE will conduct this latest round of airdrops, though the BBC has not confirmed this.

BBC Verify has previously investigated airdrops in 2024, which reportedly killed civilians on the ground. The Hamas-run health ministry said several people were killed in one aid drop incident in northern Gaza.

Footage of the incident in March 2024 - which we geolocated to near al-Shati camp in the north of the Strip - showed aid dropping from a plane. In the clip, a large group of parachutes with parcels attached could be seen falling from the sky.

However, one parachute failed to open correctly and other boxes fell quickly when their parachutes appeared to become twisted, plummeting to the ground and landing with impact.

As is often the case with aid drops, people run towards the delivery - which creates crowded and dangerous situations, leaving people to fight over food.

Back then, aid agencies already warned of their deadliness and inefficiency in delivery. The International Crisis Group's UN director, Richard Gowan, said: "Humanitarian workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid".