UN 'must declare famine' in northern Gaza, Euro-Med says, as Israel kills scores in Nuseirat

The UN and the wider international community must formally declare a famine in northern Gaza, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has urged, with aid and other necessities blocked from entering the territory for over 50 days amid an offensive and siege on the area.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including dozens of patients in three hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, were "in immediate danger of starvation or long-term health consequences", the leading NGO warned on Sunday.

The monitor added that "Israel's use of starvation as a weapon is one component of its ongoing genocide in the Strip, which also includes mass killings and forced displacement".

Northern Gaza, particularly Jabalia and Beit Lahia, has been subject to a harrowing Israeli siege and military campaign, killing at least 1,900 Palestinians since early October.

"By blocking the entry of all goods beginning on 1 October and launching a massive military assault against all citizens of Jabalia and Beit Lahia four days later, Israel has successfully divided the North Gaza Governorate from the rest of the Gaza Strip," Euro-Med added.

The Israeli military is allegedly carrying out the so-called 'General's Plan', an ethnic-cleansing campaign broadly aiming at expelling Palestinians from northern Gaza. Israel has designated any remaining Palestinians in the territory as "Hamas fighters", which locals say is being used to justify the killing of civilians.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also warned of an imminent famine on Saturday in northern Gaza.

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that a "man-made famine is likely happening" in the area, accusing Israel of "weaponising hunger and deliberately depriving Gazans of basic needs".

In a move that will further exacerbate the aid situation in Gaza, Israeli forces are allowing gangs to systematically loot aid trucks entering the war-hit enclave, with much of the vital relief ending up in Israeli-controlled warehouses, Haaretz reported on Monday.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, meanwhile, urged the UN Security Council to submit a draft resolution forcing Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza, which has so far killed at least 43,603 Palestinians.

Mustafa is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave, and implement relevant Security Council resolutions, said the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The announcement was made in his speech during the preparatory ministerial meeting for the Arab and Islamic summit due to be held later on Monday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Arab and Muslim leaders are expected to hold discussions on Israel’s war in Gaza and its attacks in Lebanon - ongoing for over a year.

On Monday, Israeli forces sent tanks into the western side of Gaza's Nuseirat camp in a new incursion into the enclave's central area, killing at least 11 people since Sunday night.

In attacks overnight and into Monday, artillery fire and aerial bombing targeted the Nuseirat camp in two separate Israeli airstrikes, one that hit a tent encampment.

Among the victims was a journalist and his wife, who were sheltering in the camp after their home was destroyed by Israeli forces, Al Jazeera said.

Several were also wounded, including two children aged 10, who were being treated for serious injuries at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed at least 36 people in other parts of the Gaza Strip, while over 24 members of the same family - including 14 children and six women - were killed in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

The victims were all relatives of Mohammed Alloush, the founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the NGO confirmed.