Gaza latest: Israeli cabinet weighs full takeover of Gaza as Hamas claims Netanyahu is ‘sacrificing’ hostages – UK Times

The Israeli military says it controls about 75 per cent of Gaza, as prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for a full military occupation of the Strip.

Most of Gaza’s population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning that the enclave’s residents are on the verge of famine.

Some far-right allies in his government have long advocated a full occupation of Gaza and for Israel to re-establish settlements there, two decades after it withdrew.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters Wednesday that he hoped the government would approve the military taking control over the rest of Gaza.

Around 12,000 children aged under five in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition, and hunger-related deaths are rising, the Director General of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

“In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at his organisation’s headquarters in Geneva.

At least 99 people have died, including 64 adults and 35 children, of whom 29 were younger than five, from the start of this year to July 29.

Between June and July, the number of admissions for malnutrition almost doubled – from 6,344 to 11,877 – according to the latest UNICEF figures available.

Some 2,500 of those children are suffering from severe malnutrition.

A UN report from Wednesday shows that just 8.6 percent of cropland in Gaza is still accessible, while only 1.5 per cent of cropland is both accessible and undamaged, as of 28 July.

More than 86 per cent of cropland is damaged, while 12.4 per cent is undamaged but out of reach, as fighting between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas and other armed groups continues.

This report comes as Israel’s offensive inside Gaza continues to control aid distribution, and starvation-related deaths rise.

The local Ministry of Health reported five new malnutrition-related deaths in the past 24 hours on Wednesday, bringing the total to almost 200 starvation-related deaths, half of them children.