If you’re just checking in, here is a recap of the key developments today.

• Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert called Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Keir Starmer “outrageous” and it was “sheer nonsense” to conflate criticism of the Israeli government’s approach to Gaza with antisemitism;
• Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, said he “doesn’t recognise” Netanyahu’s accusation that Starmer has fuelled antisemitism and sided with Hamas;
• The United Nations said aid groups collected supplies carried by 90 of the 200 trucks that have entered Gaza since Israel began allowing in limited relief after an 11-week blockade;
• UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres demanded Israel let a “flood” of aid into Gaza and condemned the “atrocious levels of death and destruction” caused by its military offensive;
• The whole of Gaza was at risk of famine and there was a “very, very small window” to get food to malnourished children, said Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children in Gaza.

At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in the 24 hours ending this morning, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says.

The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.

Israel faces mounting international criticism for its offensive and pressure to let aid into Gaza amid a humanitarian crisis.  Netanyahu’s government says it will continue to strike until Hamas releases all of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages and disarms.

The whole of Gaza is at risk of famine and there is a “very, very small window” to get food to malnourished children, says Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children in Gaza. “Children are being attacked, bombs are dropping frequently, they are having to be evacuated and displaced.” She explains that if a child is malnourished and gets diarrhoea or a chest infection, it can be fatal “very, very quickly”.

“We need to have a definitive ceasefire, and whatever that takes is what is required. “The situation is absolutely desperate.” A former prime minister of Israel has called Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Keir Starmer “outrageous”.

Ehud Olmert said it was “sheer nonsense” to conflate criticism of the Israeli government’s approach to Gaza with antisemitism.

“It is an insult to reasonable people even to suggest that when someone doesn’t agree with Netanyahu and with his atrocious policies… then they are antisemites.

“The majority of Israelis criticise the Israeli government in the same way with the same language.

“So please tell your prime minister that he is in good company –  of people that care for human values and that are opposed to the policies of Netanyahu and the group of thugs that are part of his cabinet.”

Carrying on the war “is not justified” and “the majority of Israelis at this point are against continuing the war”.

“There are many voices like mine in Israel which oppose the expansion of this war precisely because we do not want to kill non-involved people amongst the Palestinians.”

As we’ve been reporting, charities and world leaders are stepping up the pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. The latest pictures from the war-torn Palestinian area make it clear why. Gazans have been struggling to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis today.

The pictures below show children are among those desperate to be fed. “These were three leaders of their countries whose sole objective was to try and move forward a peace process.” It is typical of Netanyahu to go on the attack to defend his own situation, he says.

“Why not look at yourself and what is going on what, why not look in the situation in Gaza, why not try and deal with the extreme right-wingers in your government?”

He continues: “We want peace for Israel, but we watch what is going on in Gaza with horror.”

Political correspondent Rob Powell says Benjamin Netanyahu has used “extraordinary language” in accusing three of his closest allies of effectively wanting Hamas to stay in power.

“Number 10 are not really saying anything, all they are doing is pointing back to a previous statement where Keir Starmer condemned those murders in Washington DC.

“It plays into what has been the broader comms and diplomatic strategy coming from Number 10 when they are attacked directly or when there is controversial or eye-catching language coming from other world leaders.”

Powell sums it up as not reacting to comments, only reacting to events, so as not to “get into a war of words”.

“That said, you do sense that this was the week when the UK government did lose its patience with Israel over Gaza.

“I think it was sketched over the foreign secretary David Lammy’s face when he was in the Commons this week.”

Powell says the question is, if nothing changes, what action does the UK take?

Yet it remains more important what the US does, because “that’s where the more tangible and important pressure comes from”.

The World Food Programme has pleaded with Israel to support its distribution of aid after its trucks were looted by desperate and hungry residents.

The world’s largest humanitarian organisation said aid was stolen from 15 of its lorries late last night in southern Gaza en route to bakeries.

The WFP said it “cannot safely operate” under a distribution system that limits the number of sites where food can be accessed.

“Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity.

“We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire.”

Israel’s aid policy is a “complete mess” and will likely pull up to two million people towards a small southern beach with no sanitation, facilities or infrastructure, says defence and security analyst Michael Clarke.

Declining to coordinate with the UN’s aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA, Israel wants to set up a new organisation made up of “inexperienced” private contractors called the Gaza Humanitarian Organisation, he says.

It will operate from four areas, three of which are in the south of the territory near Al Mawasi, explains Clarke.

“The Gaza Humanitarian Organisation is a completely untried private enterprise arrangement with the Israeli government and I’ll be astonished if it can distribute anything like the aid that the UN says is required,” says Clarke.

“Normally, food goes to starving people. In this case, starving people have got to go and find the food.”

‘It’s historically unprecedented’

The UN says Israel is weaponising food distribution to pull people into the south of the country.

The United Nations agency UNRWA says it has a system that can administer 500-600 trucks of aid each day as they have done for years, Clarke says.

“Two million people are rattling around inside a devastated landscape from which they cannot escape.

“In my experience, I’ve never known a battlefield this small in which civilians can’t get out of it, in this number.

No one should be surprised aid is being looted when mothers and fathers have run out of food for their children, says the head of the UNRWA, the UN’s humanitarian agency in Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini said its people have been “starved and deprived of the basics including water and medicines for more than 11 weeks” during the Israeli blockade.

“The aid going in now is a needle in a haystack,” he said, referring to the 100 or so trucks allowed in by Israel earlier this week.

“The least needed is 500-600 trucks every day managed through the UN including UNRWA .

“During the ceasefire, we brought in an average of 500-600 trucks a day without diversion or looting.”

It is “ridiculous” for Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Canada of emboldening Hamas by criticising Israeli policy, according to an expert.

“Netanyahu himself has been one of Hamas’s biggest supporters,” says Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Centre for International Policy.

“Netanyahu’s policy was to deliver, literally, bags of cash into Gaza to help sustain the Hamas government inside Gaza for the purposes of keeping the Palestinian leadership divided to prevent any negotiations that could lead to a Palestinian state.

“This was Netanyahu’s policy that helped keep Hamas in power, this was the policy that enabled the October 7 attacks to happen.

“So to attack Starmer for this very late-coming criticism – and finally starting to put pressure on Netanyahu to change his policy in Gaza – I think should just be completely rejected right out of hand.”

He is rightly facing increasing criticism, including in Israel, for endangering the lives of Palestinians and Israeli hostages, says Duss.