<\/p>\n
The fate of aid deliveries and limited evacuations through the only entry to Gaza not controlled by Israel was in question on Monday, after Egyptian sources said a temporary truce was struck but Israel and Hamas said no deal was in place.<\/p>\n
Israel has imposed a \u201ctotal siege\u201d<\/a> to stop food and fuel from reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid in response to a surprise Hamas offensive<\/a> on October 7 that left 1,300 Israelis dead, according to officials. After it suffered the deadliest attack in its history, Israel unleashed a relentless bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n The Gaza health ministry said the death toll from Israeli strikes on the territory had risen to around 2,750 while some 9,700 people had also been injured. Some 600,000 Gazans have been displaced while supplies are running out.<\/p>\n More than 1,000 Palestinians are trapped under the rubble in Gaza, Eyad Al-Bozom, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry said on Monday in a statement, warning of a humanitarian and environmental crisis.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said in Cairo on Sunday that the Rafah crossing between Egypt\u2019s Sinai peninsula and Gaza would be reopened and a mechanism agreed with Israel to deliver aid.<\/p>\n Egypt has said Rafah is closed but has been made inoperable by Israeli strikes on the Palestinian side.<\/p>\n Two Egyptian security sources had told Reuters<\/em> that a ceasefire in southern Gaza to last several hours had been agreed to begin at 6am GMT on Monday to allow for the entrance of aid, as well as limited evacuations of foreign passport holders from Gaza. However, Israel denied that.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out,\u201d a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq also told Reuters<\/em> there was no truth to media reports that Rafah was reopening or that there was a ceasefire.<\/p>\n The Egyptian security sources say they were perplexed by the Israeli denial after having received confirmations previously.<\/p>\n A source at Rafah said that there had been no bombardments on Monday and that the Egyptian side of the crossing was ready.<\/p>\n Hundreds of tonnes of aid from NGOs and several countries were waiting on trucks in the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish on Monday for permission to enter Gaza, two sources there and an eyewitness told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n Reuters<\/em> video showed UN-flagged fuel trucks appearing to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said earlier on Monday it would refrain from striking two roads in the Gaza Strip marked for residents to move south and out of the way of a possible ground offensive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will refrain from targeting the designated axis from 8am until 12pm,\u201d military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n \u201cFor your safety take advantage of this short period of time to move south from the north of the strip and Gaza City.\u201d<\/p>\n Military spokesman Jonathan Conricus pledged in a separate statement that the two designated roads \u201cwould be safe to use\u201d for that duration.<\/p>\n UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said he was hoping to get aid through the Rafah crossing into Gaza to \u201chelp those million people who have moved south as well as those who live there already\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cGaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity,\u201d said United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, in an urgent appeal<\/a> for critical aid to be allowed in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know water is life \u2014 Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lazzarini feared that soon there would be no food or medicine in the Palestinian enclave. \u201cThere is not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the last eight days.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of people seeking shelter in our schools and other UNRWA facilities in the south is absolutely overwhelming, and we do not have any more the capacity to deal with them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cAn unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes,\u201d the UN official stated, highlighting that UNRWA has lost 14 of its members in the war so far and Gaza had even run out of body bags.<\/p>\n \u201cAll parties must facilitate a humanitarian corridor so we can reach all those in need of support,\u201d Lazzarini added.<\/p>\n Separately, in a post on X today, UNRWA said its teams in Gaza were having to ration water as the Palestinian enclave \u201cis running dry\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA quarter of a million people in Gaza moved to shelters over past 24 hours \u2014 the majority are at UNRWA schools where clean water has actually run out,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Monday said that Israel\u2019s \u201cdeliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate\u201d targeting of civilians in Gaza was against \u201call norms of civility and in manifest violation of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n The statement by the premier comes a day after Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani slammed<\/a> Israel for \u201ccommitting a genocide\u201d against Palestinians and said the grave situation stemmed from seven decades of illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n In a statement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Kakar said, \u201cPakistan is deeply concerned on the ongoing violence and loss of life in Gaza. We stand in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and call for an immediate ceasefire and lifting of the blockade in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that the violence needed to be viewed in \u201cthe context of years of forced and illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and repressive policies against its people\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UN and international community must immediately act to open safe and unrestricted humanitarian corridors for transportation of urgently needed relief supplies to the besieged Gaza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The prime minister added that Pakistan was closely coordinating with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its member states on the \u201cfast deteriorating situation\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n He said that the foreign minister would also be attending an emergency meeting of the OIC\u2019s executive committee on October 18 and \u201ccall for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of people of Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n More than one million people have fled their homes in Gaza in scenes of chaos and despair as Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled territory and continued massing troops on Monday in preparation for a full-blown ground invasion.<\/p>\n Following an Israeli order to move to the south of the Gaza Strip, people have fled their homes in the north of the enclave to seek shelter wherever they can, including on the streets and in UN-run schools.<\/p>\n \u2018Gaza is being strangled\u2019<\/h2>\n
Israel\u2019s \u2018deliberate, disproportionate\u2019 targeting of Gaza civilians in violation of international law: PM Kakar<\/h2>\n
One million Gazans flee as Israel readies for ground attack<\/h2>\n