Israel blocks UN food convoy for north Gaza

500,000 people in Gaza are step away from famine: UN A senior U.N. aid official told reporters

By Zaheena Rasheed and Alastair Mccready – Aljazeera

• The World Food Programme (WFP) said an aid convoy was denied entry to north Gaza by Israel’s military, preventing the first attempt by the UN agency to deliver aid there since February 20. WFP said “to avert famine”, there must be road access to Gaza’s north.
• Hamas says ceasefire negotiations are ongoing but “the ball is in the Israeli court”, while the US says obstacles to a truce are “not insurmountable”.
• An Israeli bombing has killed a Hezbollah fighter, his wife and their son in the southern Lebanese village of Houla.
• US envoy Amos Hochstein has given a verbal proposal for “calm” on the Lebanese-Israeli border, with negotiations to begin during Ramadan, says Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
• At least 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 wounded in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.