PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to the Middle East on Wednesday in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.
Following a failed attempt to secure a temporary halt to the fighting in the Gaza Strip by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last week, a new round of negotiations hosted by key mediator Qatar has begun.
On the ground, however, there was no sign of a letup in the war that has devastated much of Gaza and forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to seek refuge in the besieged territory's south.
Nearly six months into the war, the US, Israel's key backer, has repeatedly called on its ally to allow an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Blinken was due in regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and in Egypt — which neighbors Gaza and has been involved in previous mediation efforts — on Thursday.
He said earlier this week that everyone in Gaza was now suffering "severe levels of acute food insecurity."
"That's the first time an entire population has been so classified," he said during a visit to the Philippines.
A United Nations-backed assessment, meanwhile, said 300,000 people in the territory's north would face famine by May without a surge of aid.
Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said Israel was blocking aid and conducting the conflict in a way that "may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war."
Agence France-Presse Television (AFPTV) footage from Gaza showed desperate crowds gathered at the Jabalia refugee camp to get a portion of carrot soup.
"We came to [line up], but they threw us out," said resident Musaab al-Masry, lamenting that there was not enough food for everyone.
'Cautiously optimistic'
Israel's spy chief David Barnea kicked off a new round of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on Monday.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said he was "cautiously optimistic," but it was "too early to announce any successes."
Ansari said they were expecting a counterproposal to be presented to Hamas after both sides rejected previous offers, adding that technical talks would continue.
Despite the resumption of talks, there was little indication of an imminent agreement.
Israeli troops on Tuesday were pressing an assault on Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's biggest medical complex, which they allege Hamas uses for military purpose. They said more than 50 fighters had been killed and about 300 suspects were arrested and taken for questioning.
Lashing out over the Israeli operation at Al-Shifa, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of seeking to "sow chaos and perpetuate violence" and "sabotage ongoing negotiations in Doha."
Israel has long accused militants of using hospitals as bases and troops previously raided Al-Shifa last November, sparking an international outcry.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said this week that Palestinian militants and commanders had since returned to Al-Shifa "and turned it into a command center."
An army statement said on Tuesday night that "dozens of prominent terrorists" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were among those arrested in the operation.
Hospital assault
Witnesses reported airstrikes and tanks near the hospital compound, which is crowded with thousands of displaced civilians, as well as the sick and wounded.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 90 people were killed in the early hours of Wednesday, including 30 in Gaza City.
Another major area of concern for the US, the UN and aid groups has been the fate of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city.
Since the war erupted, the tiny area's population has boomed to about 1.5 million, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes elsewhere in the territory seeking shelter there.
US President Joe Biden has put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull back from a threatened full-scale ground operation.
But Netanyahu said he told Biden, "we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion."