UN aid chief welcomes 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza
"Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through," UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X. "In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window."
Israel declared a "tactical pause" in fighting in parts of Gaza on Sunday and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.
The military also said it had begun air-dropping food into the Palestinian territory and dismissed allegations of using starvation as a weapon against civilians.
It said it had coordinated with the UN and international agencies to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip".
UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the pauses, saying on social media he was in "contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window".
The charity Oxfam's regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called the move a "welcome first step" but warned it could prove insufficient.
"Starvation won't be solved by a few trucks or airdrops," she said. "What's needed is a real humanitarian response: ceasefire, full access, all crossings open, and a steady, large-scale flow of aid into Gaza.
"We need a permanent ceasefire, a complete lifting of the siege."
- 'Life's wish' -
In Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa district, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said her "life's wish" was to simply feed her children.
She spoke of her husband returning empty-handed from aid points daily.
"We hope the aid comes in today, because hunger is killing us day by day," said 44-year-old Mohammed al-Daduh, also in Gaza City. "Egypt said it would send aid, but we don't know if Israel will allow it in."
AFP journalists saw Egyptian trucks crossing from Rafah, with cargo routed through Israel's Kerem Shalom checkpoint for inspection before entering Gaza.
The daily pause -- from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm -- will be limited to areas where Israel says its troops are not currently operating -- Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City.
Israel said "designated secure routes" would also open across Gaza for aid convoys carrying food and medicine.
The military said these operations, alongside its campaign against Palestinian armed groups, should disprove "the false claim of deliberate starvation".
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing "reasonable grounds" to suspect war crimes including starvation -- charges Israel vehemently denies.
Since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, the situation inside Gaza has deteriorated sharply. More than 100 NGOs warned this week of "mass starvation".
Though aid has trickled in since late May, UN and humanitarian agencies say Israeli restrictions remain excessive and road access inside Gaza is tightly controlled.
Before Israel's airdrop of seven food pallets, the United Arab Emirates said it would resume aid flights, and Britain said it would partner with Jordan and others to assist.
- 'Immediate' airdrops -
On Saturday alone, the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.
In a social media post, the military announced it "carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip".
Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants.
A number of Western and Arab governments carried out airdrops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.
"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. "They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians."
Separately, the Israeli navy brought an activist boat, the Handala operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, into the part of Ashdod, after intercepting and boarding it late Saturday to prevent it attempting to breach a maritime blockade of Gaza.
The legal rights centre Adalah told AFP its lawyers were in Ashdod but had been refused access to the detained crew, 21 activists and journalists from 10 countries.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. - AFP
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