Overview

• UN/IPC experts formally declared a famine in and around Gaza City, with 132,000 children under five at risk of undernutrition and 41,000 in critical condition.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the IPC assessment as an “outright lie,” accusing Hamas of staging a hunger narrative and saying only Israeli hostages are being deliberately deprived.
• Israel has approved plans to capture Gaza City, and the military is preparing to relocate an estimated one million residents to tent camps in southern Gaza.
• Defense Minister Israel Katz warned of intensive strikes, saying Gaza City could be destroyed if Hamas does not accept Israel’s terms to end the war.
• International responses include increased criticism, reported pauses in some German arms exports, and moves by France, Canada and Australia to pursue recognition of a Palestinian state, while ceasefire talks remain unresolved despite a reported 60-day truce proposal tied to the release of ten living hostages.