GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL 

Palestinian authorities said Thursday that 500,000 bags of flour are needed weekly in Gaza amid a worsening famine in the Israel-blockaded territory.

“Famine is becoming more severe and widespread in Gaza due to the Israeli occupation's complete closure of all crossings for 145 days and the prevention of the entry of infant formula and humanitarian aid,” the government media office said in a statement.

The office denied allegations that the entry of hundreds of aid trucks has helped “break the famine,” calling it a deliberate distortion and misleading narrative of the ongoing Israeli crimes.

Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel said on Thursday that 166 aid trucks have entered Gaza since late Wednesday via the northern Zikim border crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza.

“Gaza is in dire need of at least 500,000 bags of flour per week to avoid a full-scale humanitarian collapse,” the office said.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 111 people have died of starvation and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

Since March 2, Israel has stalled on implementing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas and has kept Gaza’s border crossings shut, leaving humanitarian aid trucks stranded along the frontier.

Israel has killed more than 59,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, collapsed the health system, and led to severe food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.