Aid trucks move from Egypt to Gaza after Israel said it began airdrops
CAIRO : Aid trucks started moving towards Gaza from Egypt, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Sunday, after months of international pressure and warnings from relief agencies of starvation spreading in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel said that it began aid airdrops to Gaza on Saturday and was taking several other steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Israeli military said 'humanitarian corridors' would be established for the safe movement of UN convoys delivering aid to Gazans and that 'humanitarian pauses' would be implemented in densely populated areas.
Dozens of trucks carrying tonnes of humanitarian aid moved towards the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in southern Gaza, the Al Qahera correspondent said from the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
International aid organisations say there is 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.
Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the UN of failing to distribute it. The UN says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
Israel's announcement on airdrops came after indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas were broken off with no deal in sight.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the airdrops would be conducted in coordination with international aid organisations and would include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food.
Palestinian sources confirmed that aid had begun dropping in northern Gaza.
Israel's foreign ministry said the military would 'apply a 'humanitarian pause' in civilian centres and in humanitarian corridors' on Sunday morning. It provided no further details.
'The IDF emphasises that there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip; this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas,' the Israeli military said in its Saturday statement.
'Responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza lies with the UN and international aid organisations. Therefore, the UN and international organisations are expected to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution and to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas.'
Aid ship intercepted
The Israeli military stressed that despite the humanitarian steps, 'combat operations have not ceased' in the Gaza Strip.
Separately, international activists on an aid ship that set sail from Italy en route to Gaza said in a post on X that the vessel had been intercepted.
The Israeli foreign ministry said on X that naval forces 'stopped the vessel from illegally entering the maritime zone off the coast of Gaza' and that it was being taken to Israeli shores and all passengers were safe.
The UN said on Thursday that humanitarian pauses in Gaza would allow 'the scaling up of humanitarian assistance' and said Israel had not provided enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in the past few weeks, according to the Gaza health ministry, while 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, which began nearly two years ago.
On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
The military also said on Saturday that it had connected a power line to a desalination plant, expected to supply daily water needs for about 900,000 Gazans.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on Oct 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
21 hours ago
- The Star
A world of misery, from 200 miles up
Looming famine: A satellite captures an image of hundreds of starving Palestinians swarming an aid convoy in Gaza. — The New York Times EVEN from orbit, the signs of anguish and desperation were visible. Last Saturday, a satellite passing over the Gaza Strip captured an image of hundreds of people converging on a convoy of aid trucks as they threaded through mounds of rubble in the southern part of the territory. It was not the first time since the war broke out in 2023 between Israel and Hamas that trucks bearing desperately needed humanitarian supplies were besieged before they reached their destination. But Gaza is hungrier than ever now. As aid groups warn of looming famine, Palestinians have been killed trying to get food. Some have died in Israeli gunfire at the few aid sites now operating in the territory. Others were shot as they mobbed aid trucks that had just crossed the border. This month, at least 20 people were killed in a stampede at an aid site. While many Palestinians in Gaza brave the chaos in a frantic effort to feed their families, they often return home with empty hands. Some of those who do emerge victorious with, say, a bag of flour, have more mercenary motives: They take the goods to sell at markets. The prices there are often exorbitant, but many people in Gaza, too old or weak, or too afraid to risk the melees, have little choice but to pay. Little is known about the dozen or so aid trucks shown in the satellite image, which was released Monday by Planet Labs, a commercial Earth-imaging company. It remained unclear exactly what they were carrying and where they were bound before they were caught up in the crowd. Displaced Palestinians waiting in front of a charity kitchen in the western Gaza City area, July 23, 2025. Famine is unfolding across most of Gaza, a UN-backed food security group said on July 29, citing months of severe aid restrictions imposed by Israel on the territory. — Saher Alghorra/The New York Times Videos taken on the ground about the same time show large crowds of men jostling one another and milling about the trucks. Dozens of men scaled the sides of the vehicles to get at the cargo. People can be seen emerging with boxes, including one marked 'food rations.' The videos were taken about 300 metres north of the Morag Corridor, a strip created by the Israeli military that separates Khan Younis and Rafah. It was the same location as shown in the satellite image. From the air, many of the trucks are so covered with people that they are hard to make out. But even from the ground, they are barely recognisable. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Gaza's civil defence says 11 killed by Israeli fire
GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred near its aid points. (AP pic) GAZA CITY : Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes today, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site inside the Palestinian territory. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis, and four more in a separate strike on a vehicle in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah. The Israeli army told AFP it could not confirm the strikes without specific coordinates. Two other people were killed and more than 70 injured by Israeli fire while waiting for aid near a food distribution centre run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) between Khan Younis and the nearby city of Rafah, the civil defence said. The army did not immediately respond to the report. Thousands of Gazans have gathered each day near aid distribution points in Gaza, including the four managed by GHF, whose operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago have led to shortages of food and essential goods, including medicine, medical supplies and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators. The shortages were exacerbated by a more than two-month total blockade on aid imposed by Israel, which began easing the stoppage in late May as GHF was beginning its operations. Israel's defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, Cogat, said today that more than 200 trucks of aid had been collected and distributed by the UN and international organisations the previous day. The UN says Gaza requires at least 500 trucks of aid per day. Cogat added that four tankers of fuel for the UN had entered the Palestinian territory, and that 43 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE, Egypt and Jordan.
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Some Gazans given cash for food, but find few supplies to buy: UN
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Relief workers have handed cash to more than 10,000 hungry families in Gaza, who find little food on the market to spend on, UN humanitarians said on Friday. "Market prices remain highly volatile and out of reach for many," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. OCHA said that nearly a week after the Israelis allowed the scale-up of aid and the safe passage for relief convoys, the assistance that has entered Gaza remains insufficient. Convoys continue to face obstacles and danger along the routes mapped out by the Israeli authorities. The office said the months-long deprivation of most life-sustaining basics has led to a deepening of the crisis, and large numbers of people reportedly continue to be killed and injured searching for food. More than 100 people were killed in the past two days along food convoy routes or near Israeli militarized distribution hubs. UN Children's Fund Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, who just returned from Israel and Gaza, described some of the mission to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York. "We called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in, moving closer toward 500 trucks a day, to stabilize the situation and reduce the desperation of the population ... We need to flood the strip with supplies using all channels and all gates," he said. OCHA said fuel remains in short supply, although limited quantities have been allowed to enter Gaza in recent days. "The United Nations and our partners need hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel every day to power critical facilities, including health, water and sanitation, as well as emergency telecommunication services," the office said. OCHA said that while fewer humanitarian movements are denied outright, approved missions still take hours to complete because they are being forced to halt at various points along the approved routes.
