Authorities say dozens of patients at Gaza hospital at risk of starving to death

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement late on Tuesday that 60 patients were “at risk of death”.

“The humanitarian situation inside the hospital has become extremely dangerous, as the wounded lack basic needs, which increases their suffering under the difficult conditions imposed by [Israeli] forces,” the ministry added.

The hospital is located in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli military siege since early October.

The death toll from more than 14 months of Israeli attacks on Gaza has reached 44,800 people, the ministry announced. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in Israel during attacks led by the Palestinian armed group Hamas on October 7 2023, and 250 were taken captive.

The ministry’s latest update came after Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the Gaza crisis, briefed members of the UN Security Council in a closed meeting in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters after the briefing, Kaag said she told the council the situation in the Gaza Strip is “a very, very bleak picture”.

“I’ve spoken of the inhumane conditions in which our fellow human being civilians are trying to survive, the young and the old,” she added.

Kaag also stated she discussed with members of the UN Security Council “our hope for a ceasefire and the unconditional release of the hostages that this would enable, obviously, a further surge of assistance”.

Kaag’s comments came as Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Israeli National Security Council ministers have been briefed that Hamas has expressed an interest in reaching a ceasefire and captive agreement.

Channel 13 also reported that Qatar has been “playing a significant role in negotiations for the deal” after previously announcing it was suspending its role as mediator.

Speaking at the Doha Forum on Saturday, Qatari Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said “momentum is coming back” to ceasefire talks.

The latest expectations of a truce come as the Israeli military announced it had launched 480 attacks on Syria in the 48-hour period after Syrian rebels toppled the decades-long government of the al-Assad family.

Israeli soldiers also seized Syrian-controlled territory in a buffer zone of the Golan Heights that was established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Damascus.

A separate ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has largely continued to hold.