The Latest: Top adviser to Netanyahu will meet US envoy as Gaza hunger deepens and deaths increase

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 21 people late Tuesday and early Wednesday, health officials said, as hunger worsened among Palestinians struggling to live under the weight of the 21-month war.

Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million. An official familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday that special envoy Steve Witkoff planned to head to Rome for talks with an Israeli official as the U.S. tries to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday.

More than 100 human rights groups and charities signed a letter published Wednesday demanding more aid for Gaza and warning of starvation.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

Here is the latest:

WHO warns Gaza nears starvation as malnutrition spikes

The head of the World Health Organization warned that over 2 million people in Gaza face starvation, citing a “deadly surge” in malnutrition and related diseases.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients, but lack adequate supplies. He said that rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10% and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20% are malnourished, often severely.

“The hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines,” Tedros said, adding that 95% of households in Gaza face severe water shortages.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said there were more than 30,000 children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza so far this year, and that there had been 21 deaths. He noted that many of the U.N. health agency’s supplies were destroyed after its main warehouse was destroyed during attacks in Deir al-Balah on Sunday.

Israel rejects Gaza starvation warning from rights groups

Israel's Foreign Ministry accused the groups of "echoing Hamas' propaganda." It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks to enter Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the United Nations.

That’s an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500-600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed, and which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year.

The U.N. says it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, ongoing fighting, and a breakdown of law and order.

In the letter issued Wednesday, 115 human rights and charity groups said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”

Top adviser to Netanyahu will meet US envoy in Rome

An official familiar with ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas said a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, was traveling to Rome to meet U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday to discuss the state of the talks.

The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

U.S. officials said Witkoff planned to head to Europe this week. The U.S. State Department spokesperson said he was headed to the Middle East in a sign that momentum may be building toward a deal.

— By Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel

Israeli military says Gaza church was struck accidentally

The Holy Family Church in Gaza City was struck last week by an Israeli shell, an attack that killed three, wounded 10 and damaged the church's compound.

The military said an internal inquiry found the church was hit after an “unintentional deviation of munitions.”

The strike drew condemnation from Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump, and prompted statements of regret from Israel.

Holy Family is the only Catholic church in Gaza. Top church leaders from the Holy Land visited the site a day after the incident and said they encountered a Gaza “almost totally destroyed.”

Human Rights Watch says Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels amount to war crimes

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked two ships, the Magic Seas and the Eternity C, on July 6 and 9, killing some of their crew and detaining others, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

The rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

HRW, however, said the Houthis' attacks on the two vessels "violates the laws of war applicable to the armed conflict between the Houthis and Israel."

“The Houthis have sought to justify unlawful attacks by pointing to Israeli violations against Palestinians,” said Niku Jafarnia, HRW’s Yemen and Bahrain researcher.

Jafarnia called for the rebels to end all attacks on ships that don’t take part in the Israeli-Hamas war and immediately release detained crew members.

Israel extends detention of senior Gaza health official

Dr. Marwan al-Hams, acting director of Gaza’s field hospitals and the health ministry’s spokesman, was detained by Israeli troops earlier this week in the Palestinian territory.

Alaa al-Sakafi, head of Addameer, a Palestinian rights group, told The Associated Press Wednesday that lawyers have not been allowed to see al-Hams. His detention in a southern Israel prison was extended until the end of the month, al-Sakafi said.

He said al-Hams suffered from a gunshot wound in his leg, which he sustained during his detention in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Monday.

Israel has not commented on al-Hams’ detention.

Israeli forces ‘deepening’ activity in Gaza City, military says

The Israeli military said in a statement Wednesday that forces were operating in Gaza City, as well as in northern Gaza.

It said without elaborating that in Jabaliya, an area hard-hit in multiple rounds of fighting, an air strike killed “a number of” Hamas militants.

Troops struck roughly 120 targets throughout Gaza over the past day, including militant cells, tunnels and booby-trapped structures, among others, the military said.

Overnight strikes kill at least 21

More than half of those killed were women and children, health authorities said.

One Israeli strike hit a house Tuesday in the northwestern side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.

The dead included six children and two women, according to the Health Ministry's casualty list.

Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said.

A third strike hit a tent in the Naser neighborhood in Gaza City late Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa Hospital said.

The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant in the strike that killed 12, saying the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties. It had no immediate comment about the other strikes.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas.

Human rights groups and charities demand more Gaza aid

In the letter issued Wednesday, 115 human rights and charity groups warned of a dire situation pushing more people toward starvation. They said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”

The letter slammed Israel for what it said were restrictions on aid into the war-ravaged territory. It lamented “massacres” at food distribution points, which have seen chaos and violence in recent weeks as desperation has risen.

“The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the letter said.

The letter called for aid to be scaled up as well as for a ceasefire. `

Israel says that it has allowed the entry of thousands of trucks since May and blames aid groups for not consistently delivering goods.