Mediators struggle as Gaza war enters sixth month

Mediators struggled on Thursday to reach a truce in Israel's war with Hamas that entered its sixth month with dozens more killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory threatened by famine.

The ministry said 83 more people had been killed over the previous day, adding to a toll it says has reached 30,800, mostly women and children, in a war that China called "a disgrace to civilisation".

Fighting began after an unprecedented Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, Israeli figures show.

The militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, some of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes 99 of them remain alive in Gaza and that 31 have died.

U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim fasting month begins, as early as Sunday depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

However, mediators in Egypt have struggled to overcome tough obstacles, while the United Nations has repeatedly warned that famine looms for Palestinians trapped by the fighting.

"It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilisation that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

China, historically sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, has been calling for a ceasefire since the war began.

 'What can we do?' 

By late January the war had damaged around half of all buildings in Gaza and rendered the territory "uninhabitable" for its 2.4 million people, a U.N. agency said, warning the impact would only worsen if the war continued.

The health ministry on...