An Israeli armored personnel carrier rolls at a position near the border with Gaza, July 21, 2025. /VCG
Israeli tanks advanced into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, as UN agencies expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.
Deir al-Balah is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of Hamas.
Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.
"UN staff remain in Deir al-Balah, and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said its staff residence and main warehouse in Deir al-Balah were attacked on Monday. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained by the Israeli military, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that three were later released while one staff member remained in detention. In its daily update, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the incidents.
The incursion into Deir al-Balah and the growing number of deaths appeared to be complicating efforts to secure a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with U.S. backing.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered by the mounting death toll and hunger crisis, and said it could affect the talks on a 60-day truce and hostage deal.
Palestinians gather at a food distribution point in Gaza, July 20, 2025. /VCG
Worsening hunger crisis and aid waiting
On Monday, AFP's journalists' association issued a statement, warning that journalists working with the news agency in Gaza are facing extreme food shortages and risk starvation amid the ongoing Israeli blockade of aid delivery and strikes.
"Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger," the association said in a post on X, sharing the statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," Dujarric said.
"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," said Dujarric.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said on X it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff, as food prices have soared.
"Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses, UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale," it said.
Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticized the Israeli government's aid delivery model in a joint statement after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food.
"The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and the free flow of much-needed aid.
Israel rejected the statement "as it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas."
