Israel announces ‘tactical pause' in fighting in parts of Gaza as IDF sets up ‘designated humanitarian corridors'
Military operations will be halted for 10 hours during the day as officials look to establish new designated humanitarian aid corridors.
5
5
5
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement detailing the plan.
It said: "A local tactical pause in military activity will take place for humanitarian purposes from 10am to 8pm (7am to 5pm UK time), starting today.
"The pause will begin in the areas where the IDF is not operating: al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City, every day until further notice.
"This decision was coordinated with the UN and international organisations following discussions regarding the matter."
There have been no renewed ground operations in the three regions targeted in the pause since March.
Designated secure routes will be created during these breaks in the conflict to allow aid to flow into Gaza, they added.
The corridors will be in place permanently between 6am to 11pm and will be used by UN and humanitarian aid organisations.
Convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the struggling population remains a priority for Israel, the statement said.
The IDF adds that it "will continue to support humanitarian efforts alongside ongoing manoeuvring and offensive operations against terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect Israeli civilians."
International aid agencies have repeatedly voiced concerns over the dangerous routes they have to take to deliver aid.
Many claim to have become too scared due to feeling endangered by Israeli troops attacking convoys and the rush of civilians when they see them coming.
There is no set date for when the pause will officially end with the IDF stating it is prepared to expand the scale of this activity if required.
The Israeli military has regularly announced "tactical pauses" in specific areas in the past.
These typically would last just hours but were aimed at allowing UN humanitarian operations to take place.
A red zone remains in place in much of southern Gaza with IDF forces warning these are still "dangerous combat zones".
The move comes amid growing calls for action in the Strip over starvation accusations.
Hamas' health ministry claims 127 people have died from a lack of food since Israel launched a counter attack inside Gaza following October 7.
It alleges at least a third of them are children.
Israel continues to deny any hunger crisis in Gaza and strongly refutes any claims it is deliberately starving Palestinians.
The tactical pause the marks the second major positive step this week.
Israel resumed air-dropping foreign aid into Gaza on Saturday.
Planes reportedly continued to drop packages of aid early this morning, containing flour, sugar and canned food.
Israel is keeping up its heavy bombardment elsewhere in Gaza.
Explosions rocked the besieged coastal strip, with IDF troops continuing to advance on Hamas' leaders and their secret lairs.
The terrorists are still hiding out within civilian communities.
Israel has vowed to continue on the war path until they have wiped out the terror group and secured the release of all of the remaining hostages snatched on October 7.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been adamant that Hamas must be wiped out so it cannot attack ever again.
Global calls for peace have intensified in recent days after French President Emmanuel Macron announced France will recognise a Palestinian state.
The Parisian announced on X: "True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine.
"We must also guarantee the demilitarisation of Hamas, and secure and rebuild Gaza.
"Finally, we must build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative."
A formal announcement will be made at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York in five weeks time.
France will become the first G7 nation to view Palestine as its own state starting in September.
Macron held emergency talks with UK PM Sir Keir Starmer, who called conditions in the 25-mile enclave 'unspeakable and indefensible'.
Donald Trump slammed Mr Macron's announcement, saying it "doesn't matter" as he left the US for a visit to Scotland.
5
5
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: Gaza and Sudan's hunger crisis
This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, The ongoing hunger crisis in conflict-stricken Gaza and Sudan is in focus in today's newsletter, while extreme weather events in Asia, Australia and the Middle East take the top 'Talking Points' stories. For those wondering what hunger has to do with sustainability, well, it is one of the United Nation's top Sustainable Development Goals. The second U.N. SDG aims to achieve "zero hunger", which was established in here, opens new tab for more on the U.N.'s goal to end world hunger. Now, the U.N. says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the GHF, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. In Sudan, hundreds of thousands of people under siege in the Sudanese army's last holdout in the western Darfur region are running out of food and coming under constant artillery and drone barrages, while those who flee risk cholera and violent attacks. Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, is the biggest remaining frontline in the region between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under fire at a pivotal point in a civil war now well into its third year. What's being done about Gaza's hunger crisis? This week, Israel said it will allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants, according to an Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, as images of starving Palestinians, including children, have alarmed the world in recent weeks. Israel's COGAT said a mechanism has been approved by the cabinet to expand the scope of humanitarian aid, allowing the entry of supplies to Gaza through the private sector. "This aims to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the U.N. and international organisations," it added. It was unclear how this aid operation would work given the widespread destruction in Gaza. Palestinian and U.N. officials say Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements – the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The announcement on the aid comes as Israel's cabinet is considering a complete military takeover of Gaza for the first time in two decades, media reported, despite international pressure for a ceasefire to ease appalling conditions in the besieged Palestinian territory. What's happening in Sudan? The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 when the former allies clashed over plans to integrate their forces. The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, but the army pushed them westward this year, leading to an intensification in fighting in al-Fashir. Hundreds of thousands of al-Fashir's residents and people displaced by previous attacks are living in camps that monitors say are already facing famine. This week, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said that emergency funding to help hundreds of thousands of refugees in Uganda will run out next month unless more support comes in as a funding crisis is threatening programmes for people fleeing Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One doctor, who asked not to be named for her safety, said hunger was an even bigger problem than the shelling. "The children are malnourished, the adults are malnourished. Even I, today, haven't had any breakfast because I can't find anything," she said. The RSF has blocked food supplies and aid convoys trying to reach the city have been attacked, locals said. Prices for the goods traders are able to smuggle in cost more than five times the national average. Many people have resorted to eating hay or ambaz, a type of animal feed made out of peanut shells, residents told Reuters. One advocacy group said even ambaz was running out. ESG SPOTLIGHT What happens to the pets of the people detained or deported by the rise of Los Angeles immigration raids under the Trump administration? That's what today's spotlight story seeks to answer. The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control has been taking care of dogs and cats after their owners were detained or deported. From June 10, the county has taken in 28 animals, 22 of whom are dogs. Eleven dogs and two cats have been placed with homes since then. 'The animals have become sort of a victim in this situation because, to no fault of their own, they're finding themselves in the care centers," said Christopher Valles, public information officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. Today's Sustainable Switch was edited by Jane Merriman Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- The Guardian
How to solve the global housing crisis
What if we could house everyone in the world who needs somewhere to live? Well the UN says it has figured out how, essentially we need to build 96,000 homes every day for the next five years just to meet global housing needs. But is that even possible? Josh Toussaint-Strauss investigates how the UN ended up with this number, where the houses are supposed to go and how we could make it happen
The Independent
21 hours ago
- The Independent
Mothers in Gaza stretch meager ingredients where they can, but say hunger persists
A single bowl of eggplant stewed in watery tomato juice must sustain Sally Muzhed's family of six for the day. She calls it moussaka, but it's a pale echo of the fragrant, layered meat-and-vegetable dish that once filled Gaza's kitchens with its aroma. The war has severed families from the means to farm or fish, and the little food that enters the besieged strip is often looted, hoarded and resold at exorbitant prices. So mothers like Muzhed have been forced into constant improvisation, reimagining Palestinian staples with the meager ingredients they can grab off trucks, from airdropped parcels or purchase at the market. Israel implemented a total blockade on trucks entering the besieged strip in early March and began allowing aid back in May, although humanitarian organizations say the amount remains far from adequate. Some cooks have gotten inventive, but most say they're just desperate to break the dull repetition of the same few ingredients, if they can get them at all. Some families say they survive on stale, brittle pita, cans of beans eaten cold for lack of cooking gas, or whatever they can get on the days that they arrive early enough that meals remain available at charity kitchens. 'The children remain hungry. Tomorrow we won't have any food to eat,' Muzhed said from the tent where her family has been displaced in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah. Once, her bowl would barely have fed one child. Now she ladles it out in spoonfuls, trying to stretch it. Her son asks why he can't have more. The Muzhed family's struggle is being repeated across Gaza as the territory plunges deeper into what international experts have called 'the worst-case scenario of famine.' On some days, mothers like Amani al-Nabahin manage to get mujaddara from charity kitchens. The dish, once flavored with caramelized onions and spices, is now stripped to its bare essentials of rice and lentils. "Nearly nine out of ten households resorted to extremely severe coping mechanisms to feed themselves, such as taking significant safety risks to obtain food, and scavenging from the garbage,' the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said on July 29. Gas for cooking is scarce, vegetables are costly and meat has all but vanished from the markets. Families in Gaza once dipped pieces of bread into dukkah, a condiment made of ground wheat and spices. But today, 78-year-old Alia Hanani is rationing bread by the bite, served once a day at noon, allowing each person to dip it in a wartime dukkah made of flour, lentils and bulgur. 'There's no dinner or breakfast,' the mother of eight said. Some people don't even have enough to improvise. All Rehab al-Kharoubi has for her and her seven children is a bowl of raw white beans. 'I had to beg for it,' she said. For some, it's even less. Kifah Qadih, displaced from Khuza'a east of Khan Younis, couldn't get any food — the bowl in front of her has remained empty all day. 'Today there is no food. There is nothing.'
