US President Donald Trump issues what he calls “a last warning” to Hamas to release all Israeli captives held in Gaza, and tells its leaders to leave the Strip. The threat comes as the White House confirms direct talks with Hamas for the first time since 1997 to secure the release of US-Israeli captives and end the war in Gaza.

The World Food Programme is hampered by the Israeli blockade that began alongside the decision to continue the ceasefire into Ramzan

The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with the militant Palestinian group Hamas on the possibility of releasing US hostages being held in Gaza, two sources briefed on the conversations have said.

Israel is reportedly seeking a six-week extension to the first phase of the ceasefire. Hamas is opposed to this.

The United Nations World Food Programme, which relies on the U.S. for nearly half its budget, is closing its Southern Africa bureau due to funding constraints, the agency said on Monday as the region struggles to withstand a severe drought.

The U.N. food agency says it only has enough food supplies in the Gaza Strip to keep public kitchens and bakeries open for less than two weeks, after Israel halted the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies.

The World Food Programme, the largest provider of food aid in Sudan, said on Wednesday it was forced to pause food distributions in Sudan's famine-plagued Zamzam camp in North Darfur.

Hamas, which says it wants stage two of the deal to go ahead, said blocking supplies was “cheap blackmail”. The World Food Programme said: “Humanitarian assistance has to continue to flow ...

Palestinians in Gaza are going hungry as Israel’s blockade causes high prices and food shortages, with the World Food Programme (WFP) warning its stocks could run out in less than two weeks.