UN warns all of Gaza at risk of famine

• Israel shoots, wounds 20 aid seekers, kills 28 across the enclave
• White House says Israel 'signed off' on the new proposal
• Israel's settlement plan in West Bank draws criticism

Gaza is "the hungriest place on Earth", the United Nations said yesterday, warning that the Palestinian territory's entire population was now at risk of famine.

Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of offensive have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March, ending a six-week truce.

"Gaza is the hungriest place on Earth," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

"It's the only defined area -- a country or defined territory within a country -- where you have the entire population at risk of famine. 100 percent of the population at risk of famine," he said, rejecting claims to the contrary by Israeli authorities.

Meanwhile, the White House said Thursday Israel had "signed off" on a new Gaza ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.

The White House said President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had "submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed".

A source close to the Hamas said the new version "is considered a retreat" from the previous one, which "included an American commitment regarding permanent ceasefire negotiations".

According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of 10 living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week.

In central Gaza, Israeli forces had shot and wounded at least 20 people seeking aid at the newest distribution point set up by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, reports Al Jazeera online.

Medical sources also said that at least 28 people had been killed by Israeli attacks yesterday. The casualties are mainly coming from attacks on the north, where the Israeli military issued a spate of forced evacuation orders earlier yesterday.

Israel announced Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing sharp condemnation from Britain, Jordan and others already at odds with the country over its Gaza offensive.

London called the move a "deliberate obstacle" to Palestinian statehood, while UN chief Antonio Guterres' spokesman said it pushed efforts towards a two-state solution "in the wrong direction", reports AFP.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to lasting peace.

In a separate development, an Israeli far-right minister said yesterday it was time to use "full force" in Gaza, after Hamas said the new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that European countries should "harden the collective position" against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis, Macron said action was needed "in the next few hours and days".