Two of Donald Trump’s most senior officials, his special envoy to the Middle East and the US ambassador to Israel, are visiting Gaza today. They will inspect a food distribution site. It comes as international pressure on Israel mounts. Listen to The World as you scroll.
Friday 1 August 2025 11:30, UK
“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the UN-backed authority on food scarcity warned earlier this week.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an initiative run by governments, the UN and NGOs that work together to determine the severity of food insecurity within countries.
It said famine thresholds were being met in much of Gaza, with “mounting evidence [showing] that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths”.
Food shortages in Gaza are either a crisis, an emergency or a catastrophe, according to the IPC.
It has five stages on its Acute Food Insecurity scale, with “catastrophe/famine” being the fifth and worst.
More than one in five Palestinians in Gaza are in “catastrophe/famine,” the IPC says, around 470,000 people.
According to its data, more than half of Gaza’s population, 1,135,000 people, are in the “emergency” phase four of food insecurity.
Just below half a million are in phase three, labelled “crisis”.
No one in Gaza is in phase one or two. Phase one is for no or minimal food shortages, and phase two is “stressed” – meaning people mostly have “minimally adequate food consumption”.
Is there officially a famine?
While a famine is unfolding in Gaza, it has not been officially declared yet.
For a famine in Gaza to be confirmed, the IPC says the following conditions must all be met:
The German foreign minister is visiting the West Bank today, and meeting with Palestinian leaders.
Johann Wadephul is meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, among others, in Ramallah.
Ahead of the West Bank visit, Wadephul said: “Germany stands by all those who need humanitarian aid.
“Aid, as it can be provided by the UN.
“Due to insufficient Israeli security commitments, the UN is currently unable to do so. This must change.”
It comes after Wadephul met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday.
Aid airdrops
Berlin also began air-dropping aid supplies into Gaza today, with two flights carrying 14 tonnes of supplies.
“The flights can only make a very small contribution to providing those affected on the ground with the bare essentials,” defence minister Boris Pistorius said, adding that he expected Israel to “ensure comprehensive humanitarian supplies” for people in the enclave.
We brought you news earlier today that France carried out aid airdrops – see our 9.35 post.
The US is also facing pressure, as well as Israel, as a crisis unfolds in Gaza, our correspondent Sally Lockwood has said.
Speaking to presenter Kamali Melbourne, she said Washington was looking increasingly isolated among allies.
While the US stands firmly by Israel, three G7 countries have announced plans in the last two weeks to recognise a Palestinian state.
Watch her full analysis below…
A bit more to bring you now on special envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Gaza.
Trump’s envoy has reportedly been pictured in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Images in Israeli media showed a convoy entering a food distribution point, with two reports saying Witkoff was among those present.
Itay Blumental, of Channel 11, said: “US envoy Steve Witkoff entered the Gaza Strip this morning and is currently visiting a US GHF aid distribution center in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Amit Segal, of Channel 12, also reported on the visit.
Israel launched an interceptor missile near Gaza after sirens sounded, triggered by a false alert.
The Israel Defence Forces said the missile had been launched towards a suspected threat.
However, it was later confirmed that it was a false alarm.
France has said it is sending four aid flights to Gaza.
The country’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said today that the flights would carry 10 tonnes of aid and would take off from Jordan.
“This is emergency aid, but still not sufficient,” Barrot told broadcaster franceinfo.
He also described the situation in Gaza as “revolting.”
A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted.
Aid airdrops have been criticised as insufficient to meet the needs of Gaza.
Sky News has been told previously that much more aid can be brought in by trucks via a humanitarian corridor.
In central Gaza, people gathered to collect aid from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site.
A starvation crisis continues to spread through Gaza, after a UN-backed food scarcity authority warned famine thresholds were being widely met.
Catch up on the latest below…
More than 1,300 people seeking aid in Gaza have been killed since late May, the Palestinian branch of the UN’s human rights office has said.
The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palestine office said 859 of these deaths were “in the vicinity” of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites.
The GHF denies being linked to such deaths, and says it is operating in a warzone.
The Israeli-US-backed group took over aid distribution from the UN in May.
However, it has come under criticism for how it has handled getting much-needed supplies to desperate Gazans.
OHCHR added that 514 deaths occurred along aid convoy routes.
Amid the war in Gaza, aid trucks are often stripped of their cargo by desperate crowds, or looted by armed gangs.
A boy from Gaza has arrived in the UK for medical treatment.
In February 2024, Majd Alshagnobi was injured in northern Gaza after an Israeli tank shell exploded.
He lost his jaw, all his teeth and suffered severe facial disfigurement
Doctors in the Gaza initially had to undertake emergency surgery in a kitchen, before he later travelled to Egypt.
Yesterday, he arrived in the UK to have further treatment.
International pressure on Israel is growing.
In the last two weeks, three G7 nations have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel condemned the actions of France, the UK and then Canada as rewarding Hamas.
However, Sweden also announced its support of a Netherlands idea that the EU should “freeze” trade with Israel.
The US and Israel have been critical of such outspoken opposition, with Donald Trump citing Canada’s decision as harming efforts for the two to reach a trade agreement.
Instead of reaching a last-minute reprieve yesterday evening, Trump slapped Canada with hiked levies on certain items.
Israel has repeatedly stressed it would not bow to international influence, but has allowed more aid into Gaza in the last two weeks.
It also announced a tactical pause in fighting in three areas during parts of the day.
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