JERUSALEM/GAZA/UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel must act for a complete victory in the war in Gaza.

Katz spoke at a multi-front situation assessment with Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir and other senior commanders, according to a statement issued by the minister's office.

"We are at the closest point to meeting the war's goals. We have two remaining open theaters in Gaza and Yemen, and we must work toward a full victory in both," Katz said.

His remarks came amid the ongoing talks in Doha, Qatar, for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and reports earlier in the day in Israeli media of significant progress.

According to the statement, Katz stressed the importance of meeting the war's goals as set, primarily the return of all Israeli hostages and the surrender of Hamas.

He added that there is a possibility of a renewal of the war against Iran, stressing the need to preserve the "achievements" of the brief war last month, while formulating an effective enforcement plan to ensure that Iran does not restore its nuclear and missile projects.

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Katz also claimed that the Israeli army's presence at the control points and in the security zones in the various sectors, including in Syria and Lebanon, is a "security need" for the defense of Israeli communities.

He added that the Israeli army will remain inside refugee camps in the West Bank, and if necessary, will also operate in additional ones.

15 Palestinians starve in day

Fifteen more people, including four children, died from starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours in the war-torn Gaza Strip, Gaza's health authorities said on Tuesday.

In a press statement, the health authorities said the deaths were recorded in hospitals across Gaza, raising the total number of fatalities linked to hunger and malnutrition to 101, including 80 children, since March.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media platform X on Tuesday that "People in Gaza, including UNRWA colleagues, are fainting due to severe hunger. They are being starved."

The Israeli Medical Association (IMA), which represents about 95 percent of doctors in Israel, issued a statement Tuesday calling for the entry of medical equipment and basic humanitarian aid into the Strip.

In a letter addressed to Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir, IMA Chairman Zion Hagay wrote that such deliveries are "required by both medical ethics and morality, as well as international humanitarian law." He added that if recent reports about the deaths of at least 73 people while waiting for humanitarian aid prove accurate, it would represent a "serious violation of medical ethics and international law."

Since Israel resumed its military operations in the enclave on March 18, at least 8,268 Palestinians had been killed and 30,470 others injured, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 59,106, and injuries to 142,511, Gaza's health authorities said on Tuesday.

Israeli attacks

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured on Tuesday in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting several areas across the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's Civil Defense authorities.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that 16 people, including women and children, were killed and more than 50 others wounded when Israeli warplanes targeted tents sheltering displaced individuals in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.

In Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike claimed the lives of three members of the same family, Basal said.

Meanwhile, in the central city of Deir al-Balah, where Israeli tanks entered residential neighborhoods for the first time since the conflict began in October 2023, two Palestinians were killed after their home was struck by an Israeli missile. According to Basal, four additional civilians were killed in two separate air raids on the same city.

In the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, two brothers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their house, he added.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on these incidents.

Gaza lifelines collapse

UN humanitarians on Tuesday warned about the situation in Gaza, describing it as "the collapse of the last lifelines keeping people alive."

They reported that amid the continuing hostilities, UN aid depots were destroyed, relief workers' residences and the hungry seeking food were fired on, and some starving people were reportedly collapsing in the streets.

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Hospitals have received people with severe exhaustion caused by a lack of food, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"This is on top of continued reports of people being shot, killed or injured while simply trying to find food -- food that is only being allowed into Gaza in quantities that are far too small," OCHA said.

UN facilities in Deir al-Balah were struck even though their locations were shared with relevant parties to the conflict, said the humanitarians.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the agency's operations were compromised by the destruction of a warehouse, located within the evacuation zone, and an attack on a facility sheltering staff and their families.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), reported that the UNOPS premises in Deir al-Balah were also hit, causing structural damage, cutting off power from both their generator and solar panels, and leaving the site with no running water. He said it is the same location that was hit by tank fire in March, which killed a UNOPS staffer.

OCHA said the teams tracking population movements were affected and unable to report on the families displaced from Deir al-Balah. Some have been newly displaced, while others came under heavy bombardment and faced communication blackouts due to cable damage.

According to the office, 88 percent of Gaza is either subject to displacement orders or located within Israeli militarized zones. The remaining 12 percent is already overcrowded and underserved.

Jihad loses hostage contact

Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the group members responsible for holding an Israeli hostage in the Gaza Strip.

In a brief statement, the group's spokesperson, known as Abu Hamza, said communication had been lost with the unit guarding Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski since Monday.

He added that the loss of contact occurred following Israeli military operations in areas where the hostage was believed to be held.

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No information was provided regarding the fate of Braslavski or the Palestinian unit.

The Israeli army has not immediately commented on the statement.

Hezbollah urges support

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Tuesday called on Arab and Islamic countries to take practical steps in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the enclave.

"The responsibility lies with Arab and Islamic states, both governments and peoples," Qassem said in a statement released by the Lebanese National News Agency. "Choose whatever level of response you can, but do not remain spectators."

He described the Israeli campaign in Gaza as part of a broader US-Israeli assault marked by "genocide, starvation, and mass killing," accusing both countries of exceeding all humanitarian and moral standards.

He also called on Arab and Islamic nations to halt normalization efforts, shut down Israeli embassies, and organize humanitarian support for Gaza, saying a unified stance could shift US policy.