TRANSCRIPT
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken says every person in Gaza is experiencing acute hunger and needs humanitarian aid.
"According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 per cent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That's the first time an entire population has been so classified. We also see again, according to, in this case the United Nations, 100 percent - the totality of the population - is in need of humanitarian assistance."
But the question of where and how to get that aid continues to be one of the most contentious issues in Gaza Strip, where starvation is taking hold.
In the last week Spanish charity Open Arms delivered 200 tonnes of food aid, using a new maritime corridor from Cyprus.
Its director, Oscar Camps, is determined to keep the deliveries coming despite the significant danger to his team.
But he says the current operation is a "band-aid" without action from more powerful states and organisations, who he urges to also use the corridor.
"They are 2 million people, it's not enough. Not even 500 trucks or 500 ships (would be enough). I think that anything that can be done right now is very important. People are eating grass there and they are bombing as we were offloading food. The war doesn't stop, everything is rumbling, you're surrounded by smoke and dust, you see the tanks moving back and forth. It's a war zone and to unload food in a war zone is not easy - not everyone is willing to do it. That's why a ceasefire is important, in order for this corridor to guarantee the security of everyone, not only people in Gaza but for the teams doing the offloading."
Israel would not guarantee the safety of the Open Arms workers unloading food on the makeshift jetty in Gaza, and Mr Camps says team was in close range of airstrikes.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks by Israeli defence forces while trying to access flour and other food staples from humanitarian convoys.
According to reports from news agency Reuters, armed men from an array of factions in Gaza are now taking the security of aid convoys into their own hands.
Palestinian officials says it shows Israel's attempts to establish administrative order are being resisted.
US President Joe Biden has warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu about "anarchy" spreading in Gaza, along with famine.
During a phone call with Mr Biden [[Mon 18 Mar]] - the first in a month [[since 15 Feb]] - the Israeli leader agreed to send a delegation to Washington to discuss US concerns about the planned ground invasion of Rafah, where around 1.5 million Palestinians are currently sheltering.
Israel has confirmed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant will meet with the US Defence Department next week.
Mr Netanyahu says he remains firm in his view that a military push into Rafah is necessary.
"We have an argument with the Americans regarding the need to enter Rafah. Not regarding the need to eliminate Hamas, but rather the need to enter Rafah. We do not see a way to eliminate Hamas militarily without destroying those remaining battalions. We are determined to do so."
Israel has also continued to justify its raid on Al-Shifa hospital this week, which was condemned by the United Nations and humanitarian organisations.
The Israeli military said earlier this week it conducted a raid on the hospital, killing more than 50 people who they suspected were Hamas militants and detaining almost 180 others.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating inside hospitals, a charge which the Palestinian group has consistently denied. Gaza authorities say the raid caused multiple casualties, although exact numbers have not been reported.
This Palestinian boy, Oday Nasrallah, is moving south with his family after surviving the attack.
"We looked from the balcony window and we saw tanks and bulldozers. They were bulldozing the street. In the morning - they threw a bomb at the door. They broke the door. They came to us and took my uncles."
The Israel Defense Forces has since released footage [[Wed 20 Mar]] of Hamas weapons it says were uncovered at the medical facility.
But one of four doctors who worked in Gaza during the conflict has rejected Israel's assertion that Hamas operates out of Gaza's hospitals.
Dr Nick Maynard is a cancer surgeon and medical aid volunteer.
"I know Shifa Hospital very well. I've been to every single square inch of Shifa Hospital. There is no restricted access at all. I have never seen any Hamas militant. In the two weeks I was in Al-Aqsa hospital, I would say exactly the same that I saw no evidence of it at all."
Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees has been refused entry to the Gaza Strip.
UNWRA director-general Philippe Lazzarini says he was singled out as he attempted to enter Rafah to check on the deterioriating conditions there.
The Israeli defence ministry says he did not follow the "necessary processes and channels" when requesting entry.
With more people still being pushed south into Rafah - and the number of Gazans experiencing catastrophic hunger growing - experts are warning time is running out.
A spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry, Majed Al-Ansari, says mediators are still "cautiously optimistic" a truce deal could be brokered.
But he warns what Israel does next in Rafah could derail the chance of peace.
"We have cautioned and we will still caution that any attack on Rafah will make the humanitarian situation considerably worse and will result in atrocities that have not been seen before in this terrible crisis, with the number of unbelievable atrocities that have taken place. I don't think we are at a moment now where we can say that we are close to a deal. As I said, we are cautiously optimistic because the talks have resumed and that is a good thing and we hope that that continues, and we hope to build upon that."
