The Israeli military on Sunday announced a daily pause in operations in parts of Gaza and the opening of new aid corridors, following months of international pressure over a deepening hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
Humanitarian Pause
The military said it would cease activity in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in areas where it had not renewed ground operations since March, when it resumed its Gaza offensive.
Designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place permanently from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., the military said.
The Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Sunday that aid started moving towards Gaza from Egypt. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it described as an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
On Thursday, the U.N. said humanitarian pauses in Gaza would allow “the scaling up of humanitarian assistance” and said Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
International alarm over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has increased and as Israel and the U.S. appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
Gaza Hunger Crisis
Aid organisations said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza’s 2.2 million people, with food running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, before resuming it in May with new restrictions.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in the past few weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. A total of 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, the ministry said.
Israel says there is no starvation in Gaza and that the aid halt was meant to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it is still holding in Gaza.
After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The U.N. said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Israel’s offensive against Hamas has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
(With inputs from Reuters)
