Gaza death toll nears 30,000 as UN warns of 'imminent' famine

Fighting raged Wednesday in the besieged Gaza Strip, where the reported death toll neared 30,000 as mediators insisted a truce in the Israel-Hamas war could be just days away.

Gaza health ministry reported another 91 deaths in overnight Israeli bombardment in Gaza, while UN agencies sounded the alarm on dire humanitarian conditions and food shortages.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to find a path to a ceasefire amid the bitter fighting, seeking a six-week pause in the nearly five-month war.

After a flurry of diplomacy, mediators said a deal could finally be within reach -- reportedly including the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.

Qatar was "hopeful, not necessarily optimistic, that we can announce something" before Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden said a day earlier that "my hope is by next Monday we'll have a ceasefire", but "we're not done yet".

Ansari also cautioned that "the situation is still fluid on the ground".

Doha has suggested the pause in fighting would come before the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which starts on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.

Hamas had been pushing for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza -- a demand rejected outright by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But a Hamas source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the deal might see the Israeli military leave "cities and populated areas", allowing the return of some displaced Palestinians and humanitarian relief.

Israel's military has killed at least 29,954 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest health ministry figures.

Almost inevitable' starvation

Since the war began, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been displaced within the narrow coastal territory.

Nearly 1.5 million people now packed into the far-southern city of Rafah, where Israel has warned it plans to launch a ground offensive.

Those who remain in northern Gaza have been facing an increasingly desperate situation, aid groups have warned.

"If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza," the World Food Programme's deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council Tuesday.

His colleague from the UN humanitarian office OCHA, Ramesh Rajasingham, warned of "almost inevitable" widespread starvation.

The WFP said no humanitarian group had been able to deliver aid to the north for more than a month, accusing Israel of blocking access.

"I have not eaten for two days," said Mahmud Khodr, a resident of Jabalia refugee camp in the north, where children roamed with empty pots.

"There is nothing to eat or drink."

Ongoing strikes

Most aid trucks have been halted, but foreign militaries have air-dropped supplies over southern Gaza.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said that any assault on the city would "put the final nail in the coffin" of relief operations.

Israel has insisted it would move civilians to safety before sending troops into Rafah but it has not released any details.

Egypt has warned that an assault on the city would have "catastrophic repercussions across the region", with Cairo concerned about an influx of refugees.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that Israel will "listen to the Egyptians and their interests", adding that Israel "cannot conduct an operation" with the current large population in Rafah.

An AFP correspondent reported that overnight several air strikes hit the Rafah area as well as southern Gaza's main city Khan Yunis and Zeitun further north.

With domestic pressure high on Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, a group of 150 Israelis started a four-day march from Reim, near the Gaza border, to Jerusalem, calling for the government to reach a deal.

Israel said two more soldiers had died in the fighting in Gaza, taking the military's overall toll to 242 since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.

More than 50 UK-based journalists signed an open letter to Israel and Egypt calling for foreign press to be allowed free access to Gaza, plus better protection for reporters already inside the territory.

UN reports indicate that at least 122 media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.