Hamas calls for pressure to end Israel's aid block on Gaza

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel's complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2.

The appeal from the group comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials.

"The international community is required to intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.

The Palestinian group on Thursday signalled its rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal and called for a "comprehensive" deal to end the 18-month-long war.

The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza, which has a population of about 2.4 million, is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.

"The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half.

Medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply, the UN has specified.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

"Blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement.

A Hamas source told AFP that the group sent a written response Thursday to mediators on Israel's latest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the group, according to Hamas.

It also called for the freeing of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The proposal called for Hamas to disarm to secure a complete end to the war, a demand the group rejects.