International mediators are continuing “difficult” negotiations to secure a 40-day cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where hunger and death are the norm for civilians after five months of war.

At talks in Cairo, the US, Qatar and Egypt hope to strike a deal before Ramadan in the besieged and largely leveled enclave, where relentless Israeli shelling killed 86 people in 24 hours yesterday, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry. movement, in power there since 2007.

Israeli military operations, in retaliation for Hamas’s military arm’s unprecedented incursion into southern Israel exactly five months ago on October 7, have plunged the Gaza Strip into humanitarian disaster: 2.2 million of the 2.4 million .its inhabitants are threatened with starvation and at least 1.7 million were forcibly displaced, according to UN figures.

As the devastating armed conflict enters its sixth month today, the US, Israel’s main ally, is increasingly pressing for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week.

The agreement “is in the hands of Hamas”, US President Joe Biden said yesterday Tuesday while calling on Israel, which controls humanitarian aid destined for the enclave, to allow “more” to enter.

The truce would allow the release of hostages who were kidnapped on October 7 and remain hostages in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israel, and an increase in the amount of aid entering the Palestinian territory.

The day before yesterday250 trucks arrived in the enclavethe representative of the American diplomacy Matthew Miller said yesterday, stressing that “dramatically more” must arrive.

A Hamas delegation is in Cairo, but not Israel. The talks, which began on Sunday, are “difficult”, the Al-Qahera television network, believed to echo the Egyptian intelligence service, reported yesterday.

Disasters in Khan Yunis

The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas by its initials, demands that before an agreement is reached on the hostages, an immediate and final ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, the start of reconstruction in the enclave, the return of those internally displaced due to war…

The government of Israel rejects its terms and declares that in any case the war will continue until the “total victory” over Hamas, which it characterizes, like the USA and the EU, as a “terrorist” organization.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has demanded a full list of the hostages. But Hamas countered that it does not know “who is alive” and even who is not.

The October 7 Hamas raid killed 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. At least 253 others were abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli sources, more than 130 are still being held in the Palestinian enclave – of whom, however, 31 are believed to be dead – after the release of more than 105 hostages, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians by Israel, at the end of November, when a truce was declared week.

In retaliation, Israel vowed to “eliminate” Hamas, and its wide-ranging military operations since then have killed at least 30,717 people, most of them women and children, according to Hamas’ health ministry.

Yesterday there were about 40 Israeli bombardments in Khan Yunis (south), Gaza City (north) and Deir al-Malla (center).

Dozens of residents were able to go to Khan Younis, the epicenter of fighting for months, yesterday to see the condition of their homes and to pick up whatever could be found in the rubble. The Israeli army withdrew from the city center, which has been largely reduced to rubble. Asked about his departure, the Israeli military did not immediately respond.

Officially, the losses of the Israeli armed forces in the Gaza Strip since the ground operations began are 247 dead.

“Food for Gaza”

While international aid continues to trickle in, the World Food Program (WFP) warns that hunger is reaching “catastrophic levels”, especially in the north, where access is almost impossible due to destruction, fighting and looting.

According to Hamas’ health ministry, a 15-year-old girl “died of malnutrition”, bringing to around twenty deaths due to starvation or dehydration in the enclave recently.

Speaking of “generalized famine” in the Gaza Strip, South Africa with its new appeal to the International Court of Justice (IC) of the UN in The Hague to proceed with the imposition of emergency measures of a mandatory nature on Israel, in order to “save the Palestinian people”.

In London, after meeting Benny Gantz, minister without portfolio in the Israeli wartime government, British foreign minister David Cameron “must change”. “As an occupying power, Israel has a legal responsibility to ensure that aid reaches civilians,” he reminded.

For its part, Rome announced that it is launching on Monday the “Food for Gaza” initiative with the aim of coordinating food aid, together with UN agencies and the Red Cross.

In recent days, planes from various countries have dropped food in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. But this “will not allow famine to be avoided,” the PEP stresses.

The flour distributed by the UN “is not enough. We have children who need milk,” said Mohamed Abu Auda, a displaced person in Rafah, on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, on the closed border with Egypt.

In Rafah, according to the UN, 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge, almost all of them internally displaced—many more than once—who are now trapped.