Italy said on Thursday that it is sending a second ship, while Spain said its navy will also act. Rome dispatched a frigate the previous day following a drone attack on the GSF in international waters after it came under drone attack en route to Gaza to deliver aid.

“We have sent one ship and another is on its way, ready for any eventuality,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a speech to the lower house of parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that his country’s navy will join Italy in sending warships.

Speaking to reporters in New York on Wednesday, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Sanchez said international law must be respected and the citizens of 45 nations participating in the aid mission had every right to sail in the Mediterranean unharmed.

“The government of Spain demands that international law be complied with and that the right of its citizens to navigate the Mediterranean under safe conditions be respected,” he said.

“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it is necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”

Activists reported a wave of attacks on Wednesday night by Israeli drones and aircraft targeting vessels in what flotilla organisers described as “an alarmingly dangerous escalation”.

Multiple boats were targeted by the low-flying drones, which dropped flashbang-type explosive devices and other “unidentified objects” on and near boats, passengers on board said.

Deliberate radio jamming had also caused “widespread obstruction in communications” among the ships, they added.

As news of the drone attack emerged, the Italian navy said it would dispatch a frigate to assist in any rescue operations involving the flotilla as Crosetto condemned the overnight attacks.

Two lawmakers from Italy’s left-wing opposition are participating in the flotilla, which is now reported to be made up of some 50 civilian boats that are loaded with aid supplies and are hoping to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also weighed in, noting that “Italian citizens, along with members of parliament and MEPs”, are in the flotilla, which also includes human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

“To ensure their safety, the foreign ministry had already notified Israeli authorities that any operation entrusted to Israeli forces must be conducted in compliance with international law and the principle of absolute caution,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Minister Tajani has asked the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv to gather information and to reiterate its previous request to the Israeli government to guarantee the absolute protection of the personnel on board,” it said.

In a statement, the GSF said the repeated attempts by Israel to use such tactics to intimidate the participants would not work, and it issued a call to UN member states attending the UNGA to place the attacks on the agenda for talks.

Thunberg, who is making her second attempt to break Israel’s maritime siege of Gaza, told the Reuters news agency on Monday that drones stalk the flotilla every night.

“This mission is about Gaza, it isn’t about us. And no risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day,” she said in a video call on board a ship.

However, while sending the naval ships, Rome also called on the activists to take care to remain in international waters.

Crosetto warned the flotilla against trying to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, urging them instead to accept an Italian proposal that they hand over the aid they are carrying to be distributed by the Catholic Church in Gaza.

“We cannot guarantee the safety of our fellow citizens if they enter the territorial waters of other countries,” he said.

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Hunger and a heatwave plague the Gaza Strip
A child queues for water in Gaza.
© UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel A child queues for water in Gaza.

14 August 2025 Humanitarian Aid
As hunger and malnutrition deepen in the Gaza Strip, humanitarian missions continue to face delays and impediments, while scorching temperatures are adding to the suffering of the population.

Recently, Israel has denied fewer humanitarian movements but approved missions “still take hours to complete and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable,” the UN aid coordination office OCHA said in its latest update.

Between 6 and 12 August, humanitarians made 81 attempts to coordinate planned movements with the Israeli authorities, including to transfer fuel and personnel.

Challenges to aid delivery
Of this number, 35 were facilitated, 29 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground, 12 were denied and five had to be withdrawn by the organizers.

However, 14 of the missions that had faced obstructions eventually went ahead.

Nearly three years have passed since hostilities erupted in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel which left roughly 1,200 people dead.

Some 250 others – both Israelis and foreigners – were taken hostage. It is believed 50 are still being held in Gaza, including some who have been declared dead.

Desperate times, desperate measures
Starvation in the enclave is now at its highest level since the conflict began, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

The update cites the Gaza health authorities who have documented 235 malnutrition-related deaths, including 106 children, as of 13 August.

Despite hunger spreading, aid convoys are limited each day and dangers persist as the trucks travel through the war-ravaged enclave.

“Additionally, desperate crowds often offload food supplies from trucks to feed their families – while looting also prevents aid from reaching its intended destinations,” OCHA said.

Last month, WFP collected 1,012 trucks transporting nearly 13,000 metric tonnes of food from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim border crossings with Israel. Only 10 arrived at warehouses and the rest were offloaded on the way.

Food aid risks spoiling
Although WFP and partners have enough food either in the region or headed there to feed all 2.1 million people in Gaza for at least three months, “the risk of spoilage and infestation of the stranded food supplies has significantly increased, and some of them are nearing their expiry dates.”

Humanitarians continue to push for more aid and commercial goods to be allowed into Gaza. Although more food is entering, the quality and quantity remain insufficient to meet the immense needs.

As of 10 August, 81 community kitchens were preparing 324,000 individual meals daily – a “noticeable increase” over the 259,000 daily meals prepared two weeks ago but far below the more than one million daily meals distributed in April.

The heat is on
Meanwhile, a heatwave is making conditions much worse as Gaza is currently experiencing temperatures that surpass 40°C or 104°F.

UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA warned that dehydration is increasing because of the very limited water available.

As part of its ongoing efforts to help the people of Gaza, UNRWA has provided emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services to about 1.7 million people since the start of the war.

It comes as the UN chief says Gaza's "last lifelines" are collapsing, with humanitarian conditions breaking down at an "accelerating" pace during Israel's offensive

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy tells the BBC he's "sickened" by the "grotesque" scenes in Gaza

On Monday, he joined 27 other nations in condemning the "horrifying" killing of hundreds of Gazans trying to get food from Israel's aid operations

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says Israel's new ground offensive in central Gaza has compromised its efforts to continue working, after its facilities were attacked; Israel said its troops came under fire in Deir al-Balah and it had been "in contact with the international organisations working in the area"

Israel does not allow the BBC and other international media into Gaza to report freely.

"MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza," the organisation said in a statement.

"In Al-Mawasi clinic, southern Gaza, and the MSF Gaza Clinic in the north, we are seeing the highest number of malnutrition cases ever recorded by our teams in the Strip."

MSF said it now had more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres in both clinics.

The numbers at the Gaza City clinic had almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it said.

"This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza," Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF's deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said in the statement.

'Intentional' starvation
"The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional," he charged, insisting that "it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale".
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MSF warns acute malnutrition soaring in Gaza
Geneva (AFP) – Doctors Without Borders warned Friday that its teams on the ground in Gaza were witnessing surging levels of acute malnutrition in the besieged and war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Issued on: 11/07/2025 – 19:02
Modified: 11/07/2025 – 18:58

2 minReading time
MSF said acute malnutrition levels had reached an 'all-time high' at two of its Gaza Strip facilities
MSF said acute malnutrition levels had reached an 'all-time high' at two of its Gaza Strip facilities © – / AFP
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The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, said levels of acute malnutrition had reached an "all-time high" at two of its facilities in the Gaza Strip.

"MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza," the organisation said in a statement.

"In Al-Mawasi clinic, southern Gaza, and the MSF Gaza Clinic in the north, we are seeing the highest number of malnutrition cases ever recorded by our teams in the Strip."

MSF said it now had more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres in both clinics.

The numbers at the Gaza City clinic had almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it said.

"This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza," Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF's deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said in the statement.

'Intentional' starvation
"The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional," he charged, insisting that "it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale".

Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across a territory widely flattened by Israeli bombing since Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel began allowing food supplies to trickle in at the end of May, but using a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

That group's operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.

The UN said Friday that at least 615 people had been killed in the vicinity of GHF sites since May 27. The organisation itself denies that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.

MSF maintained Friday that "the existence of malnutrition in Gaza is the result of deliberate, calculated choices by the Israeli authorities".

They have decided, it said, to "restrict the entry of food to the bare minimum for survival, dictate and militarise the means of its subsequent distribution, all while having destroyed the majority of local food production capacity".

MSF described how injured patients at its clinics warned that its malnourished patients were "begging for food instead of medicine, their wounds failing to close due to protein deficiency".

Far more babies were also being born prematurely, while six-month pregnant women often weighed no more than 40 kilos (88 pounds), it said.

"The situation is beyond critical," said MSF doctor Joanne Perry.

The comments came as US President Donald Trump said "great progress" was being made since Israel and Iran ended their 12-day war on Tuesday, and that his envoy Steve Witkoff thought an agreement between Israel and Hamas was "very close".

Israeli attacks across Gaza on Wednesday killed at least 45 Palestinians, including some who were seeking aid, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to broker a deal stalled at the end of May, when Witkoff said Hamas had sought "totally unacceptable" amendments to a US proposal backed by Israel for a 60-day truce, during which half the living Israeli hostages and half of those who have died would be released.

Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its hostages. Fifty are still in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel also imposed a total blockade on humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of March, which it partially eased after 11 weeks following pressure from US allies and warnings from global experts that half a million people were facing starvation.

At the same time, Israel and the US backed the establishment of a new aid distribution mechanism run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is intended to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Palestinians. They said the GHF's system would prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing.

The 31-year-old vegetable seller had heard that the nearby food distribution site recently opened by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secretive Israeli- and US-backed private organisation that began operations in the territory last month, would be handing out food at 2am.

To get there early and maximise his chance of grabbing a box of flour, oil, beans and other basics, Ahmed and some friends set out across the dangerous rubble-strewn roads.

Just reaching the vicinity of the centre, one of four run by the GHF, was dangerous. “All the time we could hear the sound of shells and stray bullets flying over us. We kept taking cover behind the ruins of houses. Whoever doesn’t take cover is exposed to death,” he said.

All last week, every night and most mornings, there were similar scenes across Gaza, as tens of thousands of hungry, desperate people converged on the GHF sites or waited at points where trucks loaded with UN flour were expected.

Every day, somewhere in the devastated territory, these gatherings had a similarly lethal conclusion when Israeli forces open fire.
Food has become extremely scarce in Gaza since Israel imposed a tight blockade on all supplies throughout March and April, threatening many of the 2.3 million people who live there with a “critical risk of famine”. A kilo of sugar now costs 60 times more than before the war and a 25kg bag of flour is up to $500. Fuel for cooking is scarce, fresh vegetables almost unobtainable for many and there is no fresh meat.

Since the blockade was partly lifted last month, the UN has tried to bring in aid but it has faced major obstacles, including rubble-choked roads, Israeli military restrictions, continuing airstrikes and growing anarchy.

Many of the deaths in recent weeks have occurred when rumours spread of the possible arrival of aid trucks sent into Gaza by the World Food Programme (WFP), which was recently given permission by Israel to use northern entry points to Gaza, allowing more direct access to the areas where the humanitarian crisis is most acute.

But none of these deliveries have reached their destinations, all being stopped and offloaded, sometimes by criminal gangs but for the most part by desperate ordinary Palestinians, aid officials said.

The latest incidence of the daily killing of Palestinian aid seekers in recent weeks took place early on Wednesday on Salah al-Din Street near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera. More than 100 others were injured in the attack, they said.
In the meantime, with much of the world’s attention on the Israel-Iran conflict, and what the United States may or may not do, a top leader of the Houthis in Yemen, one of Iran’s key allies, said they will keep up their support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip until Israeli “aggression stops, and the siege is lifted”.

“Our operations in support of Gaza will not cease, no matter the sacrifices”, said Houthi-backed president Mahdi al-Mashat in a statement Wednesday.

Throughout its voyage, Kulab remained in close contact with organisers of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which launched the vessel.
Since its latest war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 54,880 Palestinians and wounded 126,227, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Since 2007, Palestinians in Gaza have lived under an air, land and sea blockade imposed by Israel.