Ghada Al Kourd, a journalist in Gaza City, tells the BBC that people are in dire need of food, water and medical supplies.

A little earlier, she told Radio 4’s Today programme that some aid trucks are getting into Gaza but “most are being looted… so normal people, poor people, can’t access the products”.

Al Kourd adds that many people are refusing to evacuate Gaza City as they believe there is no safe place in Gaza to go to.

She points out that people don’t have the ability to move again without cars or transportation let alone the energy or money to head to an “unknown destination” already full of people.

She adds that the sound of gunfire and explosions is coming closer saying “we hear it all the time”.

Israel has previously denied there is starvation in Gaza and rejected claims it is blocking aid.

At the end of last month, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip – a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a “grotesque distraction”.

Other aid drops have since taken place – but warnings have been issued about their safety, with reports that civilians were hit and killed by the falling pallets.

Earlier this week, BBC Verify found 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area that the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter.

In addition to airdrops, Israel said it would designate humanitarian corridors for UN convoys. However, on Tuesday the UN warned that the “trickle of aid” entering Gaza is insufficient to “avert widespread starvation”.

Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, says roughly 300 aid trucks are entering daily, but the UN says 600 trucks of supplies a day are needed.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

The Israeli military is keeping up pressure on Gaza City.

The UN says that recent “relentless bombardment” in the eastand south has caused “high numbers of civilian casualties and large-scaledestruction.”

Now, the Israeli military says it’s told doctors and aidworkers to start making evacuation arrangements ahead of its expanded militaryoffensive.

Yesterday, speaking to soldiers serving in Gaza, theIsraeli prime minister said he was approving military plans to conquer GazaCity and defeat Hamas – but would also begin immediate talks on releasing thehostages and ending the war on Israel’s terms.

The announcement appears to amount to a rejection of the newceasefire and hostage release proposal from regional mediators – which Hamasaccepted.

There are fears that the new military campaign in Gaza Citywill deepen the humanitarian crisis.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has released new data about malnutrition in children, pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza.

The medical aid organisation says its teams have “seen a steady and significant increase in malnourished patients” since mid-June.

Among the patients which attend its clinics and primary care centres in Gaza, MSF says, nearly one in five children are suffering from severe or moderate malnutrition. Of those being treated for malnutrition by MSF, more than half are pregnant or breastfeeding.

The charity also warns that food shortages are so severe that sometimes hospitals are unable to feed patients – and its staff are “going without food sometimes for days at a time”.

MSF notes that malnutrition is affecting “people’s ability to heal from other traumatic injuries”, with injured Gazans receiving less than half of the calories they need to properly recover. This leads to “severe medical complications, including infection, delayed healing, and often amputation”, it adds.

“This is a man-made starvation. The Israeli authorities are using food as a weapon of war, creating widespread starvation,” MSF says in its statement.

Israel’s defence minister says Gaza City will be destroyed if Hamas does not agree to disarm and release all hostages.

Israel Katz’s comments came after the Israeli cabinet approved plans for a fresh Gaza City offensive despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

Writing on X, Katz says: “Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.

“If they do not agree, Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” he added.

Both cities have been reduced to ruins following Israeli military operations.

As we’ve been reporting, the Israeli cabinet yesterday approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City.

In a video statement during a visit to the Gaza division’s headquarters in Israel on Thursday night, Netanyahu said he had approved “the IDF’s [Israel Defense Forces] plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas”.

He also said that he had “instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages” and an end to the war in Gaza on terms “acceptable to Israel”.

“These two matters – defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages – go hand in hand,” Netanyahu added, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail.

The IDF has warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City’s entire population of one million residents to shelters in the south before troops move in.

It comes after Hamas agreed to a proposal drawn up by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire on Monday, which according to Qatar would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The upcoming update follows warnings about mass starvation in Gaza last month from more than 100 international aid organisations.

“Humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,” read a joint statement, external signed by 109 groups including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam.

“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,” it continued.

The statement said it was “urging governments to act” by opening land crossings, agreeing to a ceasefire and ending the siege by allowing the flow of food and other aid into the territory.

At the time, Israel – which controls the entry of supplies into the Gaza Strip – rejected the statement, accusing its signatories of “serving the propaganda of Hamas”.

Rorey Bosotti
Live page editor

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC)will release an update later this morning on famine in the Gaza Strip.

The UN-backed body responsible for monitoring food security, which does not itself officially declare famine, saidlast month that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was “playing out inGaza”.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 271 peoplehave died of “famine and malnutrition” since on 7 October 2023 – including 112 children.

Humanitarian agencies have called on Israel tofacilitate the access of more aid into the Strip, warning food and watershortages could develop into a famine.

Israel denies there’s starvation in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying earlier thismonth that Israel’s “policy throughout the war has been to prevent ahumanitarian crisis while Hamas’s policy has been to create it”.

The new report comes less than 24 hours after Netanyahu said he’s approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

We’ll bring you all the key lines from the report once it’sreleased.