The Israeli military has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship, detaining 21 international activists and journalists and seizing all cargo, including baby formula, food, and medicine, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Earlier, aid agencies criticised Israel's airdrop plan arguing it would deliver very little and and endanger civilian lives.

Israel said it resumed aid airdrops to Gaza on Saturday and was taking several other steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, amid mounting international pressure and warnings from relief agencies of starvation spreading there.

Israel has long restricted or completely blocked aid to Gaza on the argument that Hamas steals it to use as a weapon of control over the population.

Plus: Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers.

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher has demanded that Israel provide evidence for its accusations that staff with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were affiliated with Palestinian militants Hamas,

Gazans are in desperate need of essentials after more than 21 months of war, but efforts to get aid into the Palestinian territory - and to its hungry residents - face major obstacles.

In a joint statement the countries call for an end to the war and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.