ISRAEL'S security cabinet was poised late today to extend its deadly war on the Palestinians in Gaza.

The country’s so-called Security Cabinet was due to meet last night to approve plans to escalate fighting in Gaza more than 18 months after invading the impoverished territory it has besieged for decades.

An Israeli military source said the country had already decided to call up thousands of reserve soldiers. 

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio, said he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war, but did not disclose details.

He said: “We need to increase the intensity and continue until we achieve total victory. We must win a total victory.”

As Israel plans more devastation across Gaza, Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis.

Since the start of the year, more than 9,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, the United Nations children’s agency has reported.

Unicef reports a dramatic rise in March, with 3,600 cases or an 80 per cent increase compared to the 2,000 children treated in February.

Since then, conditions have only worsened. Supplies used to prevent malnutrition, such as supplements and biscuits, have been depleted, according to Unicef, with parents and caregivers forced to share malnutrition treatments to make up for shortages, which undermines treatment. 

Hospitals to treat the Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks are hanging by a thread. Food stocks at UN warehouses have run out. Markets are emptying. What is still available is sold at exorbitant prices, unaffordable for most in Gaza where more than 80 per cent are reliant on aid, according to the UN.

Community kitchens distributing meals for thousands are closing. Farmland is mostly inaccessible. Bakeries have closed. Water distribution is grinding to a halt, largely because of lack of fuel. In desperate scenes, thousands, many of them children, crowd outside community kitchens, fighting over food. Warehouses with few supplies have been looted.

The blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel on March 2 was officially intended to press Hamas to negotiate on Israel’s terms for a new ceasefire but has sparked a growing international outcry, with observers accusing Israel of weaponising starvation. 

“We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza,” Michael Ryan, executive director of emergencies at the World Health Organisation, told reporters in Geneva. 

“Because if we don’t do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our very eyes. The children should not have to pay the price.”

Husam Zomlot, Palestine’s ambassador to Britain, posted to the X social media site that mass starvation is “Israel’s method of war in Gaza,” and that “two million people are being intentionally starved.”

Director of the Tricontinental Centre for Social Research Vijay Prashad told the Morning Star: “There is something absurd about the Israeli plan to expand the war in Gaza. It is boys sitting in a circle in the dirt, pretending that they are world conquerors against the ants that are milling about before them. But the Palestinians are not ants.

“When they walked back home to northern Gaza on January 27, they annulled the Israeli attempt to annex the land. By their bravery, they defeated the Israeli war plans. 

Mr Prashad added: “The discussion now is not to ‘expand’ the war but to repeat it.”

Rania Khalek, a US-based Lebanese journalist, said: “At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza because the Israelis have blocked all aid for 60 days. Babies are literally starving to death from intentional malnutrition.” 

Israel hasn’t responded to accusations that it uses starvation as a war tactic. But Israeli officials have previously said Gaza had enough aid after a surge in distribution during the ceasefire, and accused Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. 

Meanwhile, the deadly Israeli attacks against the Palestinians continue.

At least seven Palestinians, including two parents and their two children, ages 2 and 4, were killed in Israeli air strikes today in southern and central Gaza, Palestinian medics said. The Israeli military had no direct comment.

The military said two soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, bringing the number of soldiers killed since fighting resumed in March to six.

Israel says that Hamas has 59 captives in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Israel’s attacks have now killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials.

The fighting has displaced more than 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, often multiple times. 

Yemen’s Houthi-led government forces launched a missile today that set off air raid sirens in many parts of Israel. 

A large plume of smoke was shown on social media rising near Israel’s Ben-Gurion International airport, according to footage shared by Israeli media. 

It was not clear whether the fragment had landed inside the area of the airport, but police said they were closing the entrances to it while they dealt with the scene.

The attack briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport after an impact left a plume of smoke and caused panic among passengers.

The Yemenis have been striking Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians as well as blockading the Red Sea by attacking Israeli and US vessels. 

Yemen’s military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed retribution: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them sevenfold.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis. 

“It’s not bang, bang and we’re done, but there will be bangs,” he said in a video posted on social media.