World

(LONDON) — England’s National Health Service has banned the use of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence in transgender minors.

The NHS has not stated it will restrict puberty blockers for non-transgender children and young people.

An NHS spokesperson told ABC News the agency hopes to have a study into the use of puberty blockers in place by December of this year, with eligibility criteria yet to be decided.

The agency said it made the move after considering an evidence review conducted by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” an NHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

Less than 100 young people in England are currently prescribed puberty blockers by the NHS and will be able to continue their treatments, according to the BBC.

Clinicians will also be able to apply for the treatment for their patients under NHS England’s Individual Funding Request process, the agency said.

When children experiencing gender dysphoria or gender incongruence reach puberty, physicians told ABC News that families and their care providers sometimes consider the use of puberty blockers to delay the development of gendered characteristics, including the growth of breasts and facial hair, as well as changes in a person’s voice.

Physicians and researchers told ABC News in a past interview that puberty blockers are a decades-old practice that has been widely used on children who experience puberty earlier than what is typical.

The Endocrine Society, an international organization of more than 18,000 endocrinologists, calls the medication “fully reversible.” Once blockers are stopped, puberty continues with little to no proven side effects, according to health professionals.

“Puberty blockers allow more time to explore gender identity” and allow families to determine their plans for the future regarding gender and gender-affirming care, Endocrine Society guidelines say.

The Endocrine Society says the risks of using puberty blockers include low bone mineral density, headaches, hot flashes, fatigue and mood alterations.

Professionals who spoke with ABC News said they haven’t seen fertility issues in people who temporarily use puberty blockers. However, it’s stated as a risk by the Endocrine Society based on when puberty blockers are used.

All medications, surgeries or vaccines come with some kind of risk, and gender-affirming care is no different, according to physicians. However, knowing the risks and benefits of treatment — and of not treating a condition — can help families make an informed decision, physicians say.

The gender-affirming care guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society state physicians should thoroughly warn patients about the potential for reduced fertility before administering hormone blockers and hormone therapy.

Major medical associations in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and others agree that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial and medically necessary.

Studies show transgender youth are more likely to experience anxiety, depressed moods, and suicidal ideation and attempts, often due to gender-related discrimination and gender dysphoria.

Some studies, including research from the Pediatrics and LGBT Health journals, have shown that gender dysphoria and social motivation improved significantly with puberty blockers, and self-harm and suicidality decreased.

In the U.S., at least 23 states have restricted gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

However, several states have had their policies blocked by legal challenges.

Critics of these U.S. laws say they are concerned about the impact such bans can have on the mental and physical well-being of transgender youth, a small and already marginalized population.

Supporters of these laws say trans youth should wait until they’re older to make decisions about their health.

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(LONDON) — At least seven Russian territories were targeted by dozens of uncrewed drones on Tuesday, marking a second day of apparent Ukrainian strikes within Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said at least 58 drones were shot down by air defences overnight and into Wednesday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two days of attacks on Russian regions were an effort by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian Russians to prevent the holding of presidential elections. Voting in those elections is scheduled for the coming weekend.

“The main goal, I have no doubt about it, is to, if not disrupt the presidential elections in Russia, then at least somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens,” Putin said on Wednesday.

The drones shot down on Wednesday had targeted locations in Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Ryazan and the Leningrad region, Russian military officials said.

The ministry on Tuesday had said that it had destroyed dozens of other Ukrainian drones in several regions within Russia.

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(NEW YORK) — A team of U.S. Marines has been sent to provide additional security at the U.S. embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti, according to a statement from U.S. Southern Command.

This new group of Marines is in addition to the tactical teams of Diplomatic Security personnel from the State Department that had already been sent to Haiti.

“At the request of the Department of State, the U.S. Southern Command deployed a U.S. Marine Fleet-Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) to maintain strong security capabilities at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and conduct relief in place for our current Marines, a common and routine practice worldwide,” U.S. Southern Command said. “The U.S. Embassy remains open, and limited operations continue, focused on assistance to US citizens and supporting Haitian led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power.”

Separately, a spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command says “U.S. Southern Command is prepared with a wide range of contingency plans to ensure the safety and security of U.S. Citizens in Haiti.”

The Marines being sent to Haiti are what is known as a Marine FAST team — Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team — that have specific training in providing additional security at U.S. diplomatic posts anywhere in the world on short notice.

The deployment of Marines to the U.S. embassy is the second time this week that U.S. military forces have been called to assist U.S. embassy personnel in Haiti.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, U.S. military helicopters assisted in the evacuation of American non-essential personnel from the U.S. embassy according to a U.S. official.

A U.S. State Department official had earlier told ABC News that multiple specialized tactical teams from its Diplomatic Security Service had been securing the embassy and protecting the remaining staffers.

The official added that although some embassy employees were airlifted from Haiti this weekend, “a substantial complement of diplomats” are still at the embassy.

“This week, the Department of Defense doubled our funding for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and we are working with Haitian, Kenyan, and other partners to expedite its deployment to support the Haitian National Police and to restore security in Haiti,” U.S. Southern Command continued. “The Department of Defense is postured to provide enabling support for the MSS, including planning assistance, information sharing, airlift, and medical support.”

Haiti has been engulfed in civil unrest over the past several weeks which led to Acting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing he would resign on Monday, saying he will cede power to a presidential council following weeks of soaring anti-government violence led by an alliance of gangs.

“My government will leave immediately after the installation of this council,” Henry said in his announcement.

Henry’s resignation comes as gangs have launched an armed rebellion in Port-au-Prince this month, attacking a series of government targets over the last two weeks. Gang leadership had called for Henry to resign, leading to rampant speculation over how he would respond.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday the U.S. “welcomes” the outcome of the meeting that created a transitional Presidential Council for Haiti, and commended Henry for “putting his country and Haitians first, agreeing to step down once this council is established.”

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(GAZA and LONDON) — The holy month of Ramadan is being marked across the Muslim world, but for people in Gaza, it’s a far more somber and muted time than in previous years, as the Israel-Hamas war approaches the six-month mark.

Much of the enclave’s population of 2.2 million people is now homeless, the United Nations has said, with many living in makeshift refugee camps. Food, water, medical supplies and other resources are scarce.

Many Gazans have been involuntarily fasting long before the holy month, which started on Monday, as they simply cannot find food. Part of the religious observance of Ramadan involves fasting from dawn to sunset.

“I see people walking in search of food, but their eyes are empty and their souls are dead,” Loujain Anan, a 25-year-old from Gaza City, told ABC News. Anan is one of the 1 million displaced people who have taken shelter in Rafah, the small town in southern Gaza that borders Egypt.  

“A day is a struggle between me and memories. Our days have become about survival, not life. Remember that Gaza is not fine and this Ramadan is not happy,” Anan said.

Enough food ‘to feed entire population’ sitting outside Gaza as malnutrition death toll reaches at least 20: WFP
Anan said she’s haunted by her memories of previous Ramadans, telling ABC News: “A scene appears before me, of me, my family and friends, sitting in front of the television with a long meal of delicious and varied food in front of us.”

That’s in stark contrast to what she faces now, she said. “I feel my heart beating hard and very cold air hitting my bones, and I wake up on a cold mattress on an empty floor in a room that is not my room and a house that is not my home,” Anan said. “I see my mother and her friend placing a few lanterns on the table and decorations on the wall. I look at her but I feel nothing but the pain of memories.”

Anan is not the only Gazan struggling to embrace Ramadan this year.

“I cannot believe that we are living during the month of Ramadan under war and bombing,” Nabila Rabie, 62, told ABC News.

Rabie has been displaced from her home in Khan Younis and is now living in a tent in Al Mawasi in southern Gaza.

“I am tired of sleeping in the tent, life here is very difficult and impossible. I feel that my heart will stop due to the intensity of sadness over this tragic situation,” she said.

President Joe Biden had warned of a “very dangerous” situation if a cease-fire wasn’t reached by the start of Ramadan. An Israeli political official with knowledge of the negotiations recently told ABC News that progress toward reaching another cease-fire and hostage deal is slow.

Israel-Hamas truce talks stall as war in Gaza grinds on
Historically, Ramadan is a tense month in Israel, with Palestinians and Israeli police regularly clashing over access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Islam, which is in the same compound as Temple Mount — one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization, called Ramadan “the month of victory, the month of jihad,” and in a video statement released Friday on Telegram, called for “our people to march on Jerusalem … to pray in the mosque … and to stop the occupation achieving its aims of controlling and dividing. Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to us.”

The comments have alarmed Israeli authorities, who are granting access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on a limited basis, allowing only Palestinian men over 55, women over 50 and children under 10 who have the correct travel permits to visit, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. The office said it would allow a similar number of worshipers into the mosque this year as it did in 2023, when it was estimated between 200,000 and 250,000 people worshiped there every Friday during Ramadan.

Further restrictions could reportedly be introduced for Friday prayers.

The tension is particularly heightened this year as Israel continues its aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza, following Hamas’ attack. Palestinian Islamist militants carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has said it’s determined to destroy Hamas and plans to invade Rafah, where it says Hamas leaders are hiding and where Israeli officials believe some of the hostages are being kept in tunnels.

More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Hundreds of truckloads of aid for Gaza stuck as more lives lost to malnutrition, some aid organizations say
For many in Gaza, the holy month of Ramadan is an unwelcome reminder of what they have lost.

“Now we miss everything. Our hearts are sad because this is a great loss. We lost our entire life and we are waiting to be relieved from this pain before our hearts explode from this tragedy,” 42-year-old Suhail Al-Akhras, who was displaced from Gaza City and has been living in Rafah’s tent city, told ABC News.

“I will miss everything during the month of Ramadan. I will miss sitting with my family. I will miss the iftar [breaking of the daily fast] table on which we put all the various types of food,” he said. His children will not be fasting this year, he explained, as there isn’t enough nutritious food for their evening iftar meal to properly replenish them.

Those in Gaza who feel weak due to undernourishment may forgo fasting, and those for whom fasting would pose a serious health risk must forgo fasting, Abbas Shouman, secretary-general of Al-Azhar’s Council of Senior Scholars in Cairo, said, The Associated Press reported.

More than 500,000 people in Gaza face ‘catastrophic hunger’: UNRWA
Hunger in Gaza is at a “catastrophic level” and more than 90% of the population faces acute food insecurity, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Tuesday.

Thousands in northern Gaza are malnourished and at risk of starvation, according to the U.N., and so would be unable to fast.

The World Food Programme, an arm of the U.N. that has been trying to get much-needed aid to the area, has called the situation “a humanitarian catastrophe.” More than half the population in Gaza faces “catastrophic hunger,” multiple U.N. organizations warned in January.

“Recently, children from Gaza City and its north came to our hospital suffering from malnutrition and severe dehydration,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, head of the care and nursery department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, told ABC News.

“Some of them died,” he added.

ABC News filmed inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital and captured distressing images of a 12-year-old boy who was severely malnourished and dehydrated. Muhammad Rajab was brought to the hospital two weeks ago and is still in critical condition, hospital staff said, telling ABC News they don’t have the right resources to treat him.  

The neonatal unit at the hospital is operating far beyond capacity, with many newborns fighting for life, Al-Kahlot said. “Most of the cases you see are at risk of death at any moment,” Al-Kahlot added.

One mother who spoke to ABC News said her newborn was dehydrated. “Malnutrition negatively affects breastfeeding,” she said. “The baby does not get enough from breastfeeding so he became dehydrated.”

Her baby now has kidney issues, she said, and she’s very concerned. “What has this 1-month-old baby done to deserve this?” she said.

Overcrowded hospitals, few supplies causing ‘complete collapse’ of Gaza health system
While the situation doesn’t currently appear as extreme in Rafah as it is in northern Gaza, there’s little enthusiasm for the reflection and communality that traditionally comes with Ramadan.

“There is no joy, there is no food for breakfast and suhoor [the meal consumed early in the morning before fasting], there are no family gatherings, all my children were displaced in different areas in the Al-Mawasi area in tents,” Rabie told ABC News.

“We have had enough of destruction, death and hunger,” she added.

There are some people, however, who are trying to bring some Ramadan joy to the people of Rafah. Tents in the displacement camps have been decorated with lights, people are still trying to gather for evening prayer and iftar — the evening meal that breaks the fast.

To mark the start of Ramadan, Hala Abu Al-Lail, a young graduate of public relations and advertising, said she organized some games for the children in the camps.

“I loved to get them out of the atmosphere of war, support them psychologically, and provide entertainment,” she said, adding: “I am so happy because I saw them happy. They have not been happy for a long time, they are even sad about the joy.”

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(PADUA, Italy.) — While makeup trends have evolved over the last 4,000 years, a recent study apparently proves that the age-old saying is true: the beauty of a red lip is timeless.

Researchers have identified what is believed to be the world’s oldest known lipstick, or lip paint – a small, ornate stone vial containing a deep red paste, which was discovered in southeastern Iran.

“We hypothesize a lip paint, rather than a solid lipstick because we have no certain idea about the original consistency or fluidity of the cosmetic substance,” Massimo Vidale, one of the study’s lead researchers and a professor of archaeology at the University of Padua in Italy, told ABC News in a statement.

The Bronze Age artifact is carbon dated to between 1936 B.C. and 1687 B.C. and was originally discovered in 2001, when a flood unearthed ancient graveyards, according to a study published in February in the journal Scientific Reports.

The 2001 flooding of the Halil River Valley, 25 miles south of Jiroft, Iran, exhumed ancient ruins from what is believed to be the Bronze Age Marḫaši civilization, a “powerful” people who are believed to have thrived alongside Mesopotamia, according to the study.

Researchers said the ancient lipstick vial, as well as jewelry, weapons, and finely crafted ceramics were among the artifacts looted from the ruins and sold to antique markets before being recovered by Iranian officials.

“A small chlorite vial, discovered among numerous artifacts looted and recovered in the Jiroft region of Kerman province contains a deep red cosmetic preparation that is likely a lip-coloring paint or paste,” researchers said in the study.

The vial was included in a collection at the Jiroft Archaeological Museum in Iran before it was analyzed by researchers from the Italian University of Padua, Iranian University of Tehran, and the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies in Rome.

The hand-carved stone vial is approximately two inches tall by three-quarters of an inch wide, which is slightly smaller than modern-day lipsticks, according to the study.

One of the most notable findings in the study is that the mineral components of the lipstick artifact “[bear] a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks,” researchers said.

The ingredients identified by a scanning electron microscope include hematite, darkened with manganite and braunite, and traces of galena and anglesite, mixed with vegetal waxes and other organic substances, according to Vidale, who further noted, “combined it is exactly what one would expect in a modern lipstick.”

For Vidale, the discovery draws a close connection between women of an ancient civilization to those of today.

“I’ve always felt closely connected to the people and civilizations of ancient Iran,” Vidale said. “And having a grown-up daughter, I’ve always been deeply intrigued when I came across material evidence that could be linked to women and children of that age and those cultures.”

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(LONDON) — The United States’ new special envoy for Sudan is to travel to Africa and the Middle East in a regional tour as the diplomatic push for a cease-fire in Sudan intensifies.

U.S. Special Envoy Tom Perriello is to travel to Kampala, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Cairo, Djibouti, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, meeting key partners in a push for an end to the conflict in Sudan.

“Eager to hear directly from Sudanese civilians across the region, as well as African and regional leaders and multilateral partners, as we push for an immediate end to the civil war and humanitarian crisis,” Perriello wrote on X.

Last Friday, 14 out of 15 members of the United Nations Security Council backed a U.K. resolution calling for warring parties to “seek a sustainable resolution to the conflict through dialogue,” with the council expressing “grave concern” over the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

However, in a statement posted on telegram on Sunday on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) official channel, SAF Deputy Commander Yasser al-Atta ruled out a cease-fire, saying there will be no truce unless Rapid Support Forces (RSF) personnel leave the homes of civilians.

The official RSF spokesperson said in a media statement posted on X that the group “welcomes” the Security Council’s resolution, calling it a “crucial opportunity to initiate earnest discussions that could catalyse a political pathway.”

Sudan was plunged into chaos in April of 2023 after fighting erupted between the RSF and the SAF following weeks of tensions linked to a plans for a return to civilian rule.

As the conflict approaches its one-year anniversary in April, the U.N. estimates that at least 12,000 people have been killed, local groups saying the true toll is likely to be much higher.

The conflict has sparked the world’s “largest displacement crisis” with over eight million people — an estimated 15 percent of the Northeast African nation’s population — fleeing their homes. The U.N. warns “an unimaginable humanitarian crisis is unfolding”, the conflict threatening to trigger the “world’s largest hunger crisis.”

U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres has pleaded for the warring parties to observe a Ramadan cease-fire, saying “time is of the essence.”

“This cessation of hostilities must lead to a definitive silencing of the guns across the country and set out a firm path towards lasting peace for the Sudanese people,” he said.

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(NEW YORK) — Dozens of pro-Ukrainian fighters claimed on Tuesday to have launched an incursion with tanks and armored vehicles across the border into Russia, in what may be the largest attack over the border since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Fighters from two pro-Ukrainian Russian militant groups claimed to have crossed the border Tuesday morning into the Belgorod region that borders northeast Ukraine and to have engaged Russian forces.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense and Federal Security Service, the FSB, confirmed that dozens of fighters tried to break through into the Belgorod and Kursk region further south.

But the ministry claimed the Ukrainian fighters were “repulsed” after suffering heavy casualties and that they were unable to penetrate into the border regions.

The FSB claims “over 100 enemy personnel, six tanks, a Caesar self-propelled gun, 20 armored combat vehicles” were destroyed.

The Free Russia Legion, a group of Russians fighting on behalf of Ukraine, posted a video Tuesday morning claiming to show itself moving with tanks moving over the border. It has also posted a video claiming to show a Russian armored vehicle being destroyed in a border village.

Story developing…

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(NEW YORK) — A Russian cargo plane carrying 15 people crashed near Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Eight crew members and seven passengers were on board the Ilyushin Il-76 when the plane crashed shortly after take-off, the ministry said.

One of the plane’s engines appeared to be on fire before the crash, the ministry said.

Story developing…

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(NEW YORK) — Acting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced late Monday he would resign, saying he will cede power to a presidential council following weeks of soaring anti-government violence led by an alliance of gangs.

“The government that I am leading cannot remain indifferent to this situation. There is no sacrifice too big for our country,” Henry said in a video posted to official government channels.

He added, “My government will leave immediately after the installation of this council.”

The resignation had been earlier announced by the current chair of regional governing block Caribbean Community (CARICOM), who spoke at a press conference late Monday evening in Kingston, Jamaica.

“We acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and the naming of an interim prime minister. I want to pause and thank Prime Minister Henry for his service to Haiti,” said Irfaan Ali, the current chair of CARICOM and president of Guyana.

The announcement came as gangs have launched an armed rebellion in Port-au-Prince this month, attacking a series of government targets over the last two weeks. Gang leadership had called for Henry to resign, leading to rampant speculation over how he would respond.

A senior U.S. State Department official said Henry first made the decision to step down on Friday but waited until Monday to communicate that with his ministers.

CARICOM members, representatives from Haiti’s political parties and civil society, as well as diplomates from the United States and the U.N. met for a series of emergency meetings on Monday to help chart a path forward for Haiti after it became clear the crisis in Port-au-Prince had spiraled out of control.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the meeting and publicly called for the urgent creation of a presidential transition council, a sign the U.S. was ready to move past Henry.

In addition to Henry’s resignation, CARICOM leaders announced the creation of a seven-member transitional presidential council. The council will “hold relevant and possible powers of the Haitian presidency during the transition period until an elected government is established,” according to the CARICOM chair, and will operate by majority vote.

The council will appoint a new interim prime minister and council of ministers. In Haitian democracy, the prime minister answers to the president.

Henry first came to power a few weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his official residence in July of 2021. In the absence of presidential authority, the U.S. backed Henry in a power sharing agreement that was originally supposed to lead to new elections within a matter of months.

But Henry postponed those elections after a massive earthquake in August of that year. Several more deadlines came and went for new elections to be held, with Henry citing security and logistics each time as the reason why elections shouldn’t yet be held.

He quickly became a symbol for many in Haiti of the chaos that has consumed the country in recent years — soaring gang violence, inept governance, ineffective policing, a corrupt judiciary, exploding hunger and deepening poverty.

Haitians took to the streets to protest loudly and often during his 2.5-year reign, calling for him to step down and criticizing him as an unelected autocrat desperately trying to cling to power. It was only this month, however, that it all came to a head.

Henry had just announced in late February that he would once again postpone elections until August of 2025. It sparked immediate anger, but Henry left the country for a trip to Kenya.

There he signed an agreement that he hoped would expedite the United Nations-approved deployment of some 1,000 Kenyan police officers to try and restore security to Haiti’s streets. Gangs had taken over at least 80 percent of the capital city and Henry said an international force was needed to restore a semblance of order.

But while he was gone, Haiti’s two largest gang alliances unified and attacked.

They targeted prisons, releasing thousands of criminals, as well as the National Palace, the Interior Ministry and dozens of police stations. Sustained attacks also forced the closure of Port-au-Prince ports and its international airport, effectively sealing it off from the rest of the world.

Henry was unable to return safely to Haiti and has been staying in Puerto Rico.

The gang leader behind the attacks, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, told ABC News in an interview over the weekend that his first demand was Henry’s resignation.

“If Ariel Henry resigns, I think we are going to call for a truce just to evaluate the situation, just to allow the negotiations to take place between all the sectors of society and the armed groups,” said Barbecue.

It remains to be seen whether Henry’s resignation will quell the violence that has engulfed the capital city of several million people. But any cease-fire, even if temporary, would be welcome relief after two of the most violently consequential weeks in recent Haitian history.

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(LONDON) — A Gaza road being extended and expanded for use by the Israeli military now runs across the full width of the Gaza Strip from east to west, satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs shows. The expansion of the road opens the possibility that much-needed humanitarian aid could be delivered using the new infrastructure.

The images show this is the second Israeli-built road traversing the territory.

The road, which runs just south of Gaza City, may also be key to getting more humanitarian aid into northern Gaza, according to Jamie McGoldrick, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian territories.

Before Israel’s construction activities in the last few weeks, visual analysis shows the road ran a little over a mile east-west across a central portion of the Gaza Strip.

It now cuts a straight line about 4 miles from the Mediterranean coastal road in the west to the Israeli border in the east just opposite Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel, according to an ABC News visual analysis.

In response to questions about satellite images showing the road being finished and its uses, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News on Friday the road is an “active logistical route, constantly maintained during the war,” and it’s intended to be used for the mobilization of troops and supplies.

Construction on the road is continuous and ongoing to repair “damage caused by armored military vehicles,” the IDF added.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 14 in February, a lieutenant colonel in an Israeli combat engineering corps identified as being involved in the construction said the road would help defend the area from enemy raids, as well as prevent movement of people from the south back to the north of the strip while the military is actively using the road. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated south from Gaza City at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.

The latest portion of the road, extending it to Al-Rashid Road — which spans Gaza from north to south — on the coast, was finished between March 4 and 6, as seen in satellite imagery from those days.

Satellite imagery also shows Israel built another road that cuts a more winding path across the territory in November. It appears to currently connect IDF positions on the major north-south roads in Gaza — Al-Rashid and Salah al-Din — and runs just north of the newer road that cuts a path straight across Gaza. The two Israeli-built roads then connect and meet at the same point on the Israeli border, the satellite imagery shows.

The IDF told ABC News the second road is also a logistical route for troops and supply movement.

The new road and the newly expanded road both run along the Netzarim corridor, which historically was part of Israel’s “five-finger plan,” devised after it occupied Gaza in 1967 to divide Palestinian territory by splitting Gaza into four “blocks” and establishing Jewish settlements there, according to the IDF.

Per the IDF, the Netzarim “finger” historically separated Gaza City from the southern part of the strip, and an isolated settlement was built on its west end. A border crossing, named the Karni crossing, was opened on the east end to enable the import and export of goods between Gaza and Israel.

After Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, during which all settlements were evacuated and the IDF left the strip, the so-called “Karni-Netzarim” continued to operate, before Israel shut down the crossing in 2011 following a series of terror attacks.

The new road seen in satellite imagery that runs straight across Gaza connects to Al-Rashid Road just south of an established IDF position and checkpoint where trucks carrying humanitarian aid cross into Gaza City. The IDF and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) have posted numerous social media videos featuring the checkpoint in statements about aid arriving in northern Gaza.

Right now, trucks carrying aid have to enter Gaza through two border crossings in the south: the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. Once inside Gaza, trucks have to drive through the territory on the Al-Rashid or Salah al-Din Road to the north.

A U.S. defense official said Thursday that Israel has been working in recent days to establish a third land crossing into Gaza that “will allow for aid to flow directly to the population in northern Gaza that is in dire need of assistance.” The U.S. expects the first delivery via this passage to happen over the next week, the official said at the time.

An Israeli official told ABC News on Friday that a crossing for aid trucks from Israel directly into northern Gaza may be opened “very rapidly, within days,” although it would require approval by the Israeli political echelon.

A faster and safer land route to deliver aid to northern Gaza would help alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the area, where thousands of Palestinians are facing malnutrition and starvation, according to the World Health Organization, World Food Programme and multiple senior U.N. officials.

Hunger has reached “catastrophic levels, and especially in the north of Gaza,” McGoldrick said during a press conference Wednesday, and that the U.N. would look at using a “military road” that runs parallel to the edge of the Gaza Strip on the eastern side.

The distribution of aid in Gaza and getting it to those most in need in the north is one of the most pressing issues, according to Israeli officials from COGAT. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has previously said Israel doesn’t provide enough authorization to deliver sufficient aid and, even when it does give authorization, the fighting makes it difficult to deliver that aid. Israel has denied accusations that it isn’t letting enough aid into Gaza, with officials saying the U.N., its partners and other aid agencies have created logistical challenges, resulting in a bottleneck. The U.N. disputes these claims.

Adam Bouloukos, a UNRWA senior official, told ABC News that opening more land crossings is crucial and the only solution to the humanitarian crisis was getting aid in by road, alongside a lasting cease-fire.

McGoldrick alluded Wednesday to the imminent use of the new crossing where the road meets the border for aid deliveries. McGoldrick said the World Food Programme was in talks to use a military road on the Israeli side to drive up to a crossing point into Gaza, saying that “below Karni, there’s a place called Be’eri.”

Satellite imagery shows both the new road and the extended road across Gaza sit just below the old Karni crossing, and at about the latitude of Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel.

The IDF did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment about whether humanitarian aid could also use this newly extended road to enter directly into northern Gaza.

“Other options like airdrops, these are helpful, but these are not going to address the significant needs which can only be done by road transport. And that’s something we have to do,” McGoldrick said during the Wednesday press conference.

Israel has also blamed Hamas for the lack of aid, claiming the group is holding aid for itself and not distributing it to Gazans. Hamas denies the allegations.

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