Unimaginable suffering' UK joins plea to free up aid as another 89 Palestinians killed

Israel stepped up bombing in Gaza yesterday, killing at least 89 Palestinians in 24 hours despite global outcry over the deaths of five journalists in the territory the previous day.

- Lorenzo Tondo

Gaza's civil defence agency said air strikes on Gaza City had intensified in the days since Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to expand the war in the territory.

Five more people, including two children, were reported to have died of starvation, as the foreign ministers of 24 countries including the UK, Australia, France, Spain and Japan warned that "suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels".

Together with the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, they called on Israel's government to let in aid shipments immediately and allow essential humanitarian actors to operate in the territory. "Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation," they said.

Meanwhile, more than 15 people were killed while waiting for food distribution at the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, said Fares Awad, head of the region's ambulance services.