Gaza has seen its highest monthly figure of acute malnutrition in children, with hunger-related deaths rising in the enclave, the Director General of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
"In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded, says director general of world health organization," said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at its headquarters in Geneva.
At least 99 people have died, including 64 adults and 35 children, including 29 below 5-years old since the start of this year to July 29, Tedros said.
Some 2,500 of those children are suffering from severe malnutrition, according to the WHO.
"The overall volume of nutrition supplies remains completely insufficient to prevent further deterioration. The market needs to be flooded. There needs to be dietary diversity," said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative for the occupied Palestinian Territory via video link.
An explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, injured at least 34 people on Thursday, police said, causing panic among residents.
A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, officials said on Thursday, a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.
The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy but all issues must be worked through first and there's a question about the Ukrainian leader's authority to sign a peace deal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
The UAE has carried out its 77th airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as part of the ongoing Birds of Goodness initiative under Operation Chivalrous Knight 3.