COGAT says, blaming UN bottleneck; official says Hamas exploiting humanitarian situation to pressure hostage talks The post Israel denies Gaza famine claims, says aid is entering Strip but not being distributed appeared first on The Times of Israel.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is challenging the U.N.'s claims about restrictions on aid distribution in the Strip as the U.S.- and Israel-backed organization delivers over 85 million meals in under two months.

The Hamas-run health ministry says 36 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza in the past 72 hours. The United Nations says humanitarian conditions are breaking down.

The foreign ministers of 25 Western nations have slammed Israel for “drip feeding” aid into the Gaza Strip, as the health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May.

Britain threatened Tuesday to take further action against Israel if it does not agree to end the war in Gaza, a day after two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.

The Norwegian Refugee Council told Reuters on Tuesday its aid stocks are completely depleted in Gaza, with some of its staff now starving, and accused Israel of paralysing its work. The NRC says that for the last 145 days it has not been able to get its hundreds of truckloads containing tents,

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and 24 of her counterparts abroad have signed a joint statement saying "the war in Gaza must end now," while calling on Israel to stop displacing Palestinians.

Hamas is insisting that the U.N. and Palestinian Red Crescent control all the aid running into Gaza, Arab mediators said.

Abu Shabab even hinted at a future in politics: "We will be what our people want us to be. We will not impose any political system on their will."