Israel-Gaza updates: Hamas has received proposed hostage deal, Qatar says

The possibility of a "full-fledged famine" looms large across the entire Gaza Strip, humanitarian groups have warned -- especially in northern Gaza, where some people there say they're using bird feed in place of flour to stave off starvation.

Northern Gaza has been largely cut off for months now, according to the United Nations, and aid trucks carrying flour arrive sporadically and are swarmed by hundreds of hungry people.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East officials also say Israel provides too few authorizations to make deliveries into some areas and that heavy fighting often makes it too dangerous for aid workers to operate. The aid arriving in northern Gaza has been particularly restricted, the U.N. says. Israel disputes the criticisms.

"For more than two months, we have not received flour due to the difficulty of aid entering and the scarcity of flour in the area," Sami Abu Sweilem, a 55-year-old father who is sheltering in a UNRWA school in northern Gaza, told ABC News.

"Children almost died of hunger, so we thought of a way to save our children from death," he said, explaining how he's been using bird feed and animal fodder in place of precious flour.

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday to sanction four Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the State Department. The sanctions will prohibit them from accessing the U.S. financial system and property in the U.S. and will block them from receiving financial transactions from U.S. citizens.

"This violence poses a grave threat to peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, Israel, and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

The move escalates U.S. posture against the hardline elements in Israeli society amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In December, the U.S. imposed a visa ban on Israelis linked to violence and unrest in the West Bank that impacted "dozens" of settlers in the Israeli-occupied territory, according to the State Department.

Following the executive order, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement, "The absolute majority of the settlers in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are currently fighting regularly and in the reserves for the defense of Israel. Israel acts against all lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no room for exceptional measures in this regard."

-ABC News’ Ben Siegel, Luke Barr and Justin Gomez

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East warned Thursday that it "will most likely be forced to shut down" its operations in the war-torn Gaza Strip and the wider region "by the end of February" if funding does not resume.

Sixteen donor countries, including the United States, have suspended financial support to the U.N. agency over Israel's allegations that 13 UNRWA staff members were involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack. UNRWA said it is investigating the accusations and that "full accountability and transparency are expected out of this process, should the allegations be substantiated."

"As the war in Gaza is being pursued unabated, and at the time the International Court of Justice calls for more humanitarian assistance, it is the time to reinforce and not to weaken UNRWA. The Agency remains the largest aid organization in one of the most severe and complex humanitarian crises in the world," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement Thursday. "I echo the call of the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to resume funding to UNRWA. If the funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region."

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor

Before the war, roughly two-thirds of Gaza residents were reliant on food aid, according to the World Food Program.

Now, roughly 577,000 people in Gaza, or 26% of the population, are starving, according to Arif Husain, the chief economist for WFP.

"If things continue as they are, or if things worsen, we are looking at a full-fledged famine within the next six months," he told ABC News.

Maryam al-Dahdough, a mother of four who is pregnant with another child, was one of the thousand people who line up daily at a soup kitchen in Rafah in southern Gaza.

She told ABC News that she has not eaten eggs, milk or anything healthy for three months and it's been worse for her other children.

"Fever, vomiting, diarrhea all day, not a single one of them is healthy," she said.

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