The Palestinian death toll in Israel's war on Gaza crossed the grim 30,000 milestone with no end in sight to atrocities.
The Gazan Health Ministry confirmed Thursday the number of people killed nearly five months into Israel's brutal war on the enclave.
"The number of martyrs exceeds 30,000," a ministry statement said. It added that the toll includes at least 79 deaths reported overnight.
While mediators say a truce deal between Israel and Hamas could be just days away, aid agencies have sounded the alarm of a looming famine in Gaza's north.
Children have died "due to malnutrition, dehydration and widespread famine" at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital, said the Health Ministry, whose spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra has called for "immediate action" from international organizations to prevent more of these deaths.
Citing the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, USAID head Samantha Power said Israel needed to open more crossings so that "vitally needed humanitarian assistance can be dramatically surged."
"This is a matter of life and death," Power said in a video posted on social media platform X.
The latest overall toll for Palestinians killed in the war came after at least 79 people died overnight across the war-torn Gaza Strip, the health ministry said Thursday.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been seeking a six-week pause in the war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 incursion of Israel.
Negotiators are hoping a truce can begin by the start of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month that kicks off March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.
The proposals reportedly include the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.
Short of the complete withdrawal Hamas has called for, a source from the group said the deal might see Israeli forces leave "cities and populated areas", allowing the return of some displaced Palestinians and humanitarian relief.
U.S. President Joe Biden is "pushing all of us to try to get this agreement over the finish line", said his secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
