The number of Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel has passed 60,000, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but about 60 per cent of those killed since the war began in October 2023 are believed to be minors, women or the elderly. This includes about 19,000 children.

The actual number of casualties could be significantly higher, with about 7,000 people listed as missing, likely buried under rubble.

Israel launched its latest offensive in response to Hamas’s attacks on October 7th, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage.

Before the latest figures were released, a hunger monitor warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death.

The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food.

“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC said, adding that “famine thresholds” have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip.

It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as “in famine”.

With international criticism growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses on Sunday.

Although Israel has introduced 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses of military operations, the fighting continues. On Tuesday, the health ministry said at least 112 people had been killed in Gaza in the previous 24 hours, including people attempting to collect food parcels.

With ceasefire and hostage release negotiations stalled, the Haaretz newspaper in Israel reported that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering the annexation of parts of the coastal enclave in an attempt to keep two far-right parties in his coalition.

According to the report, Israel will present Hamas with an ultimatum to agree to a 60-day ceasefire or Israel will begin annexing areas of the strip, starting with the buffer zone it has created inside Gaza which runs along the length of the border.

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Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist party, hinted at such a scenario. “If I’m still in the government despite this [the entry of humanitarian aid], I must have a reasonable foundation to assume that good things are going to happen,” he said. Mr Smotrich also said that renewing the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc that existed in Gaza before the 2005 disengagement, when Israel withdrew from Gaza, is not enough.

“I don’t want to go back to Gush Katif. It’s too small,” he said. “It needs to be much bigger, much wider. Gaza allows us to think bigger.”

The army is also preparing plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip or to cut off Gaza city from the rest of the enclave if there is no agreement on a ceasefire.

The security cabinet convened on Monday night but no decision was taken and it appears that Israel is giving a few more days to diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire.

With international criticism against Israel mounting, Mr Netanyahu issued a statement in English saying that while the “situation in Gaza is difficult,” Israel was working to ensure that large quantities of aid enter the Strip. He added that “Hamas benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis.”

“As such, they have been releasing unverified numbers to the news media while circulating images that are carefully staged or manipulated,” he claimed.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar claimed that “international pressure on Israel during these critical days of negotiations for a ceasefire has already caused Hamas to harden its positions.” – Additional reporting: Reuters.

The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. – Reuters