The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it will resume airdrops of aid to Gaza Saturday night while disputing claims of deliberate starvation as the hunger crisis escalates amid its ongoing campaign against Hamas. 

The IDF said in a statement Saturday the airdrop operation will be conducted in coordination with international aid organizations, Israel’s Coordination for Government Activities in the Territories and the Israeli Air Force. 

"The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations," the IDF said in a statement. 

Designated humanitarian corridors will also be established "to enable the safe movement of U.N. convoys delivering food and medicine to the population," according to the IDF. 

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"The IDF is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas and will continue to operate to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate terrorists in the areas of activity," the IDF said. "This week alone, over 250 aid trucks were unloaded, joining hundreds of trucks waiting at the crossings to be collected by the U.N. and international organizations."

Approximately 600 trucks of aid have also been distributed by the U.N. and other international organizations, Israel said.    

Israel has also connected its power line to Gaza’s desalination plant. 

"This is expected to supply approximately 20,000 cubic meters of water per day, up from the 2,000 cubic meters supplied until now, to serve about 900,000 residents in the area," according to the IDF. 

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The IDF said the reports about starvation in Gaza were a false campaign promoted by Hamas, but hunger is spreading across the region after the United Nations and the IDF previously failed to reach an agreement about aid distribution, Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported. 

Price gouging and disagreements about how to get aid to citizens are making the crisis worse.

The U.N. is warning of increased malnutrition and starvation in the area. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called the situation in Gaza a "horror show" this week "with a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times." 

"Responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza lies with the U.N. and international aid organizations," the IDF said. "Therefore, the U.N. and international organizations are expected to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution and to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas."

The U.S. State Department this week addressed expanding Israeli strikes in Gaza, saying the Trump administration is focused on negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

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"Our focus has been to stop that war, to stop the fighting, to have a ceasefire," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said this week. "It is at the top of our mind as we work still to stop this carnage." 

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have reached one of the highest numbers ever recorded in Minnesota during the month of July, and authorities caution citizens to stay inside at dusk and dawn.

The blood-sucking bugs in all seven counties of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area tested positive for the disease, according to the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD). 

MMCD ecologists processed nearly 200 mosquito pools and found Culex tarsalis mosquitoes, the species most blamed for spreading the West Nile virus, were "active in some of the highest numbers" ever recorded, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.

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Of 133 pools tested, 34 tested positive for the virus, showing a rate of more than 25% positivity, MMCD reported. 

The rate is one of the highest recorded in the month of July, more in line with numbers seen in late August, when mosquito populations wind down.

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Positive West Nile virus samples were also found in mosquitoes in other states, including Georgia, where they were confirmed in three different areas of Atlanta.

Though the city is working on coordinating insect control, officials asked residents near affected areas to protect themselves from bites and eliminate standing water to prevent mosquito breeding.

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The West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne disease that can cause encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

Originating between mosquitoes and birds in Africa and Europe, the virus spread to the U.S. in 1999 when an outbreak in New York sent nearly 60 people to the hospital over two months.

Most of the patients had clinical signs of brain swelling, and seven patients died, according to a report from the National Institutes of Health.

While the disease can be more detrimental to older patients and those with muscle weakness, MDH officials said most people bitten by infected mosquitoes experience either mild symptoms or none at all.