By Lyndal Rowlands and John Power

    UNICEF chief Catherine Russell has called for a “ceasefire now”, saying that “every minute counts” for children in Gaza facing “deadly” malnutrition.

    Truce talks are expected to resume in Egypt on Sunday but the details beyond a possible six-week pause in fighting remain unclear despite US officials’ claims a ceasefire is near.

    Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues with overnight attacks reported in Rafah, Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis.

    An earlier Israeli attack that killed 11 people living in tents in Rafah was “outrageous and unspeakable”, says the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

    At least 30,320 people have been killed and 71,533 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

    Aid workers, journalists targeted more than any conflict: UNRWA

    The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency says that in Gaza it has been recording the highest number of causalities for aid workers and journalists compared to any conflict.

    The statements made on UNRWA’s and its head’s X accounts announced that an UNRWA staff and photo journalist identified as Abdallah was severely injured in bombardments in northern Gaza.

    Over past weeks he has been sending powerful footage of the scale of destruction, the UNRWA and Philippe Lazzarini added.

    ‘Airdrops are the worst way to deliver aid’

    Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, says airdropping aid should only be resorted to when there is something on the ground that is blocking you from better forms of transportation.

    “Airdrops are the worst or close to the worst possible way to deliver aid,” said Konyndyk, who is also a former disaster relief official in the Obama and Biden administrations.

    “They are very expensive, they are dangerous because there is a lot that can go wrong when those things drop and they deliver very small volumes of aid,” he added.

    “So, in relative to the need that exists in Gaza today, this is not enough to really make a meaningful dent in the humanitarian crisis,” Konyndyk told Al Jazeera.

    He added that the US government has resorted to airdrops only because in nearly five months, the Israeli military made it virtually impossible for normal humanitarian operations to exist in Gaza.