By Umut Uras and Linah Alsaafin

      Israeli forces intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 13 women and children in the Nuseirat refugee camp and destroying a residential tower in Rafah.

      In northern Gaza, an infant and a young woman died of malnutrition, taking the number of known starvation deaths to 25.

      Canada and Sweden restore funding to UNRWA after it accused Israel of forcing some of its staff to make false statements about their involvement in Hamas.

      Israel’s intelligence agency said truce talks are ongoing as Hamas chief Haniyeh called on Israel’s allies to “stop this heinous war on Gaza”.

      At least 30,960 Palestinians have been killed and 72,524 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, and dozens continue to be held captive.

‘Land access is the most efficient way to get aid into Gaza’

    Humanitarian agencies have warned the international community for months that all signs were pointing to a critical humanitarian situation in Gaza if a lasting truce did not take place, Meg Sattler, the CEO of the Ground Truth Solutions, says.

    Sattler said there have been calls for humanitarian law to be respected in Gaza and land borders to be opened for aid access.

    “None of that has happened,” she told Al Jazeera. “We did a research with people living in Gaza over two months ago that showed the population is in absolute need of water and food.

    “Ninety-seven percent of people said that they were rationing food to survive, skipping meals and drinking dirty water.

    “They [crossings] have been blocked by humans and need to be opened up again,” she said, adding that land access is the most efficient way to get aid into the enclave.

    “People are starving to death now,” she said. And when people reach this level of hunger, they have hours for intervention, they don’t have weeks.”