The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas threatened to suspend cease-fire talks today unless urgent aid can reach the northern Gaza Strip. The United Nations agency recently warned that residents in the Gaza Strip are approaching a state of famine.

Hamas source said that Hamas intends to suspend negotiations until aid reaches the northern Gaza Strip. The source requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue.

He said: Negotiations cannot proceed when the Palestinian people are suffering from hunger.

The parties are holding talks this week in the Egyptian capital Cairo, hoping to bring a halt to the four-month-old war between Israel and Hamas. The outcome of the negotiations is currently unclear.

Hamas launched its largest attack on Israel in years on October 7 last year, and Israel subsequently launched a fierce attack on the Gaza corridor controlled by Hamas. The Israeli army is currently preparing to enter the southern Gaza corridor city of Rafah as part of its mission to destroy Hamas.

However, the international community is increasingly calling on Israel not to advance into Rafah, which is already the last refuge for 1.4 million displaced Gaza residents.

The United Nations World Food Program has previously warned that Gaza is on the verge of famine, with the situation in the north being the most worrying because aid agencies are unable to reach the area.

Andrea De Domenico, director of the United Nations UNOCHA Palestinian Authority Office, said he could not understand how the approximately 300,000 people still in the northern Gaza Strip were surviving. He said: What we can bring is definitely not enough. It was a total misery.

The outside world has called for more aid trucks to enter Gaza, but Israel has stepped up inspections, saying this is a necessary measure to prevent the escape of Hamas leaders and the smuggling of weapons.