FAMINE SPREADING & AID TRUCKS ATTACKED WITH GAZANS FACING...

35 dead as Israel pounds Strip & plans full takeover while ceasefire hopes fade

- BY CHRIS HUGHES and FATMA KHALED

AT least 35 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids yesterday, amid fears Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to once again fully occupy Gaza.

In a blow to fading hopes of a ceasefire with Hamas, Israel's Prime Minister was convening a meeting for talks on extending his military operations across the entire Strip in a bid to free hostages.

That would mean building army bases in Gaza with regular patrols to try to stop the militants rising again.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked other countries to “intervene urgently” and stop the move, with Gazans already crammed into smaller areas and on the brink of famine due to aid blockades, with most infrastructure destroyed.

Yesterday's Palestinian deaths brought the total to at least 61,020, with 150,671 wounded since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Eight more people are said to have died from starvation over the past 24 hours. That brings the number to around 192, many of them children.

It is believed Israel allowed just 95 aid trucks into Gaza on Monday, 15% of the 600 needed each day.

Pictures of emaciated children have emerged from Gaza, along with images of a pin-thin Israeli hostage.

Netanyahu's office reportedly said of the military plans for Gaza, which was occupied by Israel from 1967 to 2005: “Hamas won't release more hostages without surrender, and we won't surrender. If we don't act, the hostages will starve to death and Gaza will remain under Hamas control”

THREAT