T he announcement was an admission of failure. On July 26th the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF) said that it would parachute food into Gaza and implement daily “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the still depopulated areas of the devastated strip, allowing international aid organisations to bring in convoys.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said, “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”

Humanitarian aid organizations and international bodies have warned that Gaza is facing "critical" levels of hunger and that famine is "imminent" in parts of the strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied starvation is happening in Gaza. But aid groups, doctors and UN data point to a deepening hunger crisis.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday in a bid to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine was unfolding.