WFP pauses food deliveries to northern Gaza amid ‘chaos’

Summary:

• Two senior US lawmakers who held talks with Israeli and Arab leaders said on Tuesday that they were hopeful a deal could be struck allowing a humanitarian pause in the war in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
• The UN‘s food agency on Tuesday paused deliveries of aid to northern Gaza despite widespread hunger, after a convoy of trucks faced gunfire and looting.
• The United States on Tuesday vetoed for the third time a draft UN Security Council resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, blocking a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Thirteen council members voted in favour of the Algerian-drafted text, while Britain abstained.
• The United Nations’ top court is holding a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
• The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 29,195 people have been killed and 69,170 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7, the vast majority women and children. Israeli officials say about 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

• Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that Israel would not pay any price for the return of hostages still held in Gaza.
• The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Tuesday said the United Nations still has not received any evidence from Israel supporting its claims that 12 of the agency’s employees participated in the October 7 rampage that sparked the war.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it has completed a second evacuation mission from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, transferring a total of 32 critical patients including children from the site amid ongoing hostilities.
• American and allied forces shot down 10 drones off Yemen while two US-owned merchant ships sustained minor damage from attacks, the US military said Tuesday.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)