Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

The U.N. is due to start vaccinating some 640,000 children in the territory against polio, relying on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has many asking if Israel had a deliberate policy of starving civilians. Israelis say that was never the case, but an ignorance of Palestinian suffering allowed an inconsistent government policy to lead to a calamity.

The United States and Israel are quietly swapping envoys as the ineffectiveness of humanitarian aid in Gaza threatens the cooperation between the countries.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Israel on Thursday to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, one source familiar with the move and one senior White House official

President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is heading to Israel on Thursday amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.