A quarter of Palestinians in Gaza, “one step away from famine” - UN

****Hundreds of people in Gaza City collected bags of food items on Wednesday (Feb. 26) amid widespread shortage of supplies in the territory that has been bombarded for five months.
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People carried large aid sacks draped over their backs as they walked through the city's destroyed streets. 

On Tuesday (Feb. 27),U.N. humanitarian coordinator Ramesh Rajasingham said that at least 576,000 Gazans that is, one quarter of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are a step away from famine when all residents in the enclave need food.

One in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza is suffering from “acute malnutrition and wasting,” he added. At this stage the body becomes emaciated from a lack of nutrition.

One month after the International Court of Justice ordered “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, NGO Amnesty International says Israel has failed to take bare minimum steps to comply.

The siege imposed by Israel on one of the world's most densely populated area has contributed to decimating food production, distribution and agriculture. 

Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Arab Emirates, Qatar and France carried out an operation to drop tonnes of humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip, Egypt's Defence Ministry said Wednesday.

Israel and Hamas are still discussing a deal that would free some of the roughly 130 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a weekslong pause in the war.