Global Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza Crisis

With global outrage over the toll inflicted by the six-month-old war growing, Biden rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the conflict and reiterated the need for a ceasefire.

Biden urged Netanyahu "to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country".

Israel insists it is not limiting aid and has complied with US and United Nations demands to scale up the deliveries.

The government faces a deadline from the country's Supreme Court to demonstrate it has taken steps to increase the flow of humanitarian goods.

The case was brought by five NGOs that accuse Israel of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to provide basic necessities to Gazans.

The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that following reports of imminent famine, more than 40 percent of food delivery missions were denied in February and March. None of the UNRWA food convoys have been approved since March, it added.

Humanitarians have accused Israel of using starvation as a method of war in Gaza, where UN experts say 1.1 million people -- half the population -- are experiencing "catastrophic" food insecurity.

The Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the territory, said 741 aid trucks had crossed into Gaza, with another 468 entering.

Before the October 7 start of the war, about 500 trucks supplied Gaza daily.

Under the latest proposal, fighting would stop for six weeks, about 40 women and child hostages in Gaza would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and up to 500 aid trucks would enter Gaza per day, according to a Hamas source.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has accused Israel of failing to respond to demands for an end to the war, while Netanyahu maintains Israel must achieve the twin goals of bringing home "all our hostages" and eliminating militants from the strip.