On Saturday evening, a statement was released following a significant period during which experts had been cautioning about the risk of famine due to Israeli restrictions on aid supplies.

The charities and rights groups said their own staff struggled to get enough food.

Inside Gaza, children with no preexisting conditions have begun to starve to death.

“We only want enough food to end our hunger,” said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six.

There has been a rise in international disapproval, even from Israel’s closest allies, as hundreds of Palestinians have died in recent weeks trying to access food distribution points. Meanwhile, the Handala, a vessel from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition aiming to deliver aid to Gaza, streamed footage showing Israeli forces boarding it around midnight.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that the navy stopped a vessel it identified as the Navarn from entering Palestinian territorial waters off the Gaza coast. It said the vessel was safely making its way to Israeli shores and all the passengers were safe.

“Unauthorised attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts,” the ministry said.

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to talks.

A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and called the delegations’ recall a pressure tactic.

Egypt and Qatar, which mediate alongside the United States, said talks would resume but did not say when.

“Our loved ones do not have time for another round of negotiations, and they will not survive another partial deal,” said Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, one of 50 still in Gaza from Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Mor spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv.

More than 59,700 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

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 ministry operates under the Hamas government.

The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.