The UN Security Council today took note of Israel's promise to open more passages for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and at the same time called on Israel to do "more" against the "imminent" threat of famine.
Members of the Security Council stressed their "deep concern at the death toll in the conflict, the catastrophic humanitarian disaster and the imminent threat of starvation" and called for "the immediate removal of all obstacles to the delivery of greater humanitarian aid and the free distribution of that aid."
In the statement published today, they took note of Israel's announcement about the opening of the Erez crossing and the permission to use the port of Ashdod for aid to Gaza, but pointed out that more needs to be done to deliver the necessary humanitarian aid in relation to the needs in that enclave.
They also emphasized that "it is necessary that this decision be immediately and completely applied in a permanent way".
Israel announced last Sunday, after a firm warning from Washington, that it would open the Erez crossing and the use of Israel's southern port of Ashdod, located 35 kilometers north of Gaza. But those measures have not yet been implemented.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant gave assurances yesterday that they are in the preparation phase.
The Security Council, on the other hand, emphasized the need to conduct a total, transparent and exhaustive investigation into the death of seven workers of the non-governmental organization World Central Kitchen, who were killed in an Israeli strike at the beginning of April.
The members of the SC also condemned the deaths of at least 224 aid workers since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, which is more than three times the number of aid workers killed in any conflict in a year. They also condemned all violence and hostilities against civilians.
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At least 33.545 Palestinians have been killed and 76.094 wounded in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, Reuters reports.
Israeli forces killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an airstrike on Gaza without consulting top commanders or political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli media reported, Reuters reports.
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Citing senior Israeli officials, the Vala news agency said that neither Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Galan were given advance notice of the attack, which was coordinated by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.
It said Amir, Mohammed and Hazem Haniyeh were targeted as fighters, not because they were the sons of Hamas' political leader. The Israeli military did not comment on reports that four of Hani's grandchildren were also killed.
No comment on the Vala report was immediately available from the prime minister's office or the military.
The killing of Haniyeh's relatives added a potential complication to negotiations aimed at securing an end to fighting in Gaza in exchange for the return of 133 Israeli hostages believed to be still being held in the besieged enclave.
Haniyeh said Hamas has "clear and specific" demands for agreeing to any pause in fighting.
"The enemy is delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the height of negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will force Hamas to change its position," Haniyeh said on Wednesday.
Global calls for a ceasefire are growing as the war enters its seventh month, but there has been little sign of progress in the talks, Reuters concludes.
Three sons and at least two grandsons of the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, the exiled political head of the militant group announced from his base in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Haniyeh told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that his children Hazem, Amir and Mohamed and several of their children were visiting relatives for Eid in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza when their car was targeted by an Israeli airstrike. Sixty of his relatives have been killed in the six-month war, he said, including 14 who died after an Israeli airstrike hit the family home in Gaza City in October.
The Hamas leader said the attack would not change the group's demands for a permanent ceasefire and the return of displaced Palestinians from their homes in ongoing talks mediated by Doha and Washington.
"All our people and all the families of Gaza have paid a high price in blood, and I am one of them," Haniyeh said, according to the Guardian.
An Israeli military statement confirmed that it had targeted Haniyeh's sons, which it described as "three Hamas operatives" who were "on their way to carry out terrorist activities".
The US envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, reportedly called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Iraq, asking them to convey a message to Tehran to reduce tensions with Israel, the Guardian reports.
Reuters news agency, citing a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said McGurk had asked officials to contact Iran's foreign minister and deliver the message - which they reportedly did.
McGurk's calls were first reported by Axios, but the White House declined to comment.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel "must be punished and will be punished" for the attack in Damascus that killed seven members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel did not confirm that it was behind the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria, but the Pentagon did.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq spoke by phone with Iran's foreign minister and discussed regional tensions.
Those tensions have flared and widened since Israel launched its war in Gaza following a Hamas attack on October 7, the Guardian explains.
Recently, the US president, Joseph Biden, promised that the commitment of the US to the defense of Israel against Iran is "ironclad". US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also made it clear that the US would stand by Israel against any threats from Iran in a conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on Wednesday, according to the State Department.
The war between Israel and Hamas has entered its 188th day.
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