Washington makes 'fresh push' for Gaza ceasefire to avert famine, Rafah assault

The United States made a fresh push on Tuesday for a ceasefire in Gaza to avert a manmade famine, while pressing its ally Israel to back away from plans for a ground assault on Rafah, last refuge for more than a million displaced people.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a trip to the Middle East, where he would meet senior leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to "discuss the right architecture for a lasting peace". Unusually, Blinken made no mention of a stop in Israel itself, and the Israeli foreign ministry said it had received no notification to prepare for one.

In Rafah, dazed survivors walked through the ruins of a home on Tuesday morning, one of several buildings hit in overnight Israeli air strikes that killed 14 people in the city, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been pushed against the southern border fence with Egypt.

At a nearby hospital morgue, relatives wailed beside corpses laid out on the cobbles. A woman peeled back a tiny bloodstained shroud to reveal the face of a small boy, rocking him back and forth in her arms.

"There’s US support, European support and support of the whole world for Israel, they support them with weapons and planes," said one of the mourners, Ibrahim Hasouna. "They mock us and send four or five airdrops (of aid) just to save their faces."

The war, triggered when Hamas fighters crossed into Israel on a rampage, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies, is now in its sixth month.

Nearly 32,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel's retaliatory onslaught, according to Palestinian health officials, with thousands more feared lost under the rubble.

The international hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations said on Monday that Gaza's food shortages had already far surpassed famine levels, and Gazans would soon be dying of hunger at famine-scale rates without an immediate truce.

Israel, which initially let in aid only through two checkpoints on Gaza's southern edge, denies blame for Gaza's hunger. It says it is now opening new routes by land, sea and air, and that UN and other aid agencies should do more to bring in food and distribute it.

The UN says that is impossible without better access and security, both of which it says are Israel's responsibility.

"The extent of Israel's continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime," said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.

Reuters