Israel kills 71 Gazans, starves 4 to death as US discusses postwar plan

CAIRO – 28 August 2025: Israeli forces killed 71 Palestinians and injured 339 others in Gaza over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll from the 22-month war to nearly 63,000, with 159,266 people injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Israel kills dozens of Palestinians every day in Gaza and is currently preparing to expand operations by conquering Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of people, and reoccupy the entire enclave.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is set to chair a "large meeting" at the White House on Wednesday to discuss a "very comprehensive plan" for postwar Gaza, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said a day earlier.

In an interview on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Witkoff stated that the US expects the war in Gaza to be settled “one way or another, certainly before the end of this year.”

As military operations continue, Israel also maintains strict limitations on aid deliveries, allowing far fewer humanitarian aid trucks than the United Nations deems necessary to alleviate widespread starvation.

A UN-backed food security report released on Friday officially confirmed that famine is now underway in Gaza, the first such designation since the war began.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, more than 500,000 people are currently facing starvation, destitution and death in Gaza, with the crisis expected to spread further across the strip in the coming weeks.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the situation as a “man-made disaster” and a “failure of humanity,” emphasizing that Israel, as the occupying power, is legally obligated to ensure civilians have access to food and medicine.

In the past 24 hours alone, four additional people, including two children, died from famine and malnutrition, bringing the total number of such deaths to 317, including 121 children, according to the health ministry.

Israeli forces have also continued attacks near humanitarian aid distribution centers operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The ministry reports that, of the total fatalities, 2,180 people have been killed and 16,046 injured while attempting to access aid.