GAZA: Heavy clashes and explosions shook Gaza, witnesses said on Saturday, as the Red Crescent reported several people killed during the latest chaotic aid distribution in the territory’s north, where famine looms. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a new round of talks on a Gaza truce between the Zionist entity and Hamas, after a binding UN Security Council resolution last Monday demanded an “immediate ceasefire”.

A subsequent ruling by the world’s top court ordered the Zionist entity to ensure aid reaches civilians, whose desperation was again laid bare Saturday. In its ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said it had accepted South Africa’s argument that the further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza required the Zionist entity to do more, with famine now “setting in”.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry welcomed on Friday the ICJ order. The ministry called for forcing the Zionist occupation to immediately implement the ICJ measures and work to provide protection to Palestinian people from Zionist malpractices and violations. It also emphasized the need for allowing unhindered humanitarian aid access to all of Gaza’s population considering the catastrophic living conditions and massive destruction there.

This requires an immediate end to the Zionist occupation genocidal war on the occupied Palestinian territories in line with the recent UN Security Council resolution no. 2728 which called for an immediate stop to Zionist military operations in the Gaza Strip and allowing unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

Kuwait urged the international community to press the Zionist occupation to urgently and fully implement the ICJ provisional measures and the UN resolutions and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid by all means and through all crossing points to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery in Gaza’s north. Eyewitnesses told AFP that Gazans overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Zionist troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to get the food.

Fighting has not eased — including around the territory’s largest hospital — and the latest toll from the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 82 more people were killed in the previous 24 hours. The Hamas press office reported more than 50 Zionist air strikes over the past day, with civilian houses targeted across the coastal territory, as well as tank fire in the Gaza City area and southern Gaza.

The Zionist entity’s campaign has killed at least 32,705 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry. Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days... with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations”. Talks had appeared deadlocked despite a push by the United States — which provides billions of dollars in military aid to the Zionist entity — and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to secure a truce for the fasting month of Ramadan, now more than halfway through.

Saturday’s aid delivery chaos is the latest incident of its kind in north Gaza, where a UN-backed report has projected famine by May unless urgent intervention occurs. The report released on March 19 warned that half of Gazans are feeling “catastrophic” hunger. The Zionist entity’s allies, and the UN, have blamed the Zionist entity for limitations on the aid flow. With limited ground access, several nations have begun aid airdrops, and a ship was expected to depart Saturday from Cyprus with the second cargo of food assistance. ICJ rulings are binding but it has little means of enforcement.

On Saturday, the Zionist military said it was continuing operations around Gaza’s largest hospital Al-Shifa for a 13th day. Most of the Palestinian territory’s hospitals are not functioning and its health system is “barely surviving,” the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA, said. On Saturday Hamas said that in addition to the ongoing Al-Shifa operation, Zionist troops continued “aggression” against Nasser Hospital and “besiege” Al-Amal Hospital in the same city.

Gaza’s Christian minority are marking Easter weekend, but in Jerusalem fewer pilgrims were visible. “There is a deep sadness you can feel in the air,” John Timmons, of Australia, said on Good Friday. – Agencies