JERUSALEM, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Sunday was preparing to send a delegation to Qatar for new truce talks regarding a hostage deal with Hamas amid international warnings that Palestinians in Gaza are on the brink of famine.

The Israeli wartime cabinet and the security cabinet were scheduled to convene on Sunday night for discussions ahead of the delegation's departure. Led by David Barnea, the chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, the delegation is scheduled to depart for the Qatari capital Doha on Monday.

Speaking on Sunday on the condition of anonymity, an Israeli official told Xinhua that the discussions would focus on the terms and conditions to be presented by the delegation during the talks in Doha.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has described Hamas's recent ceasefire offer as based on "unrealistic demands."

After Hamas put forward a new proposal for a ceasefire, which includes an exchange of hostages and prisoners, Netanyahu's office announced on Friday that a delegation would be dispatched to Qatar for further discussions with mediators.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials, urged Israel to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. "We cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve," Scholz said in broadcast statements alongside Netanyahu.

Netanyahu repeated his vow to attack Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Sunday. "No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"To do this, we will also operate in Rafah," he said. On Friday, he approved the military attack plan of Rafah.

Also on Sunday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued a warning, stating that "people in Gaza are on the verge of famine."

According to the agency's latest figures, one in three children under the age of two suffers from acute malnutrition in northern Gaza.

"Children's malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza. Famine is looming. There is no time to waste," the agency said.

A convoy of a dozen trucks carrying flour arrived in northern Gaza on Saturday, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported on Sunday.

On Friday, a ship carrying 200 tonnes of food began unloading its cargo into Gaza. The vessel, dispatched by the nonprofit World Central Kitchen charity, marked the first attempt to deliver aid via a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

Israel's retaliatory war after Hamas's attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has killed at least 31,645 Palestinians in Gaza, and wounded 73,676 others, according to an update released by the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Sunday. Enditem

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