Israel to pause fighting in Gaza areas each day for aid corridors
Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm (7am to 5pm GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City, to the north.
The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm starting from Sunday.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas.
"Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X.
Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children.
On Saturday, a five-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers said.
"Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead," said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, standing next to the baby's father as he held their daughter's body, which was wrapped in a white shroud.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending on Sunday more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
A group of 25 states including Britain, France and Canada last week condemned the "drip feeding of aid" and said Israel's denial of essential humanitarian aid was unacceptable.
The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.
Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
HOPE, UNCERTAINTY
Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently.
"People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza," said Tamer Al-Burai, a business owner. "We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up."
Some others voiced concern about how aid will be delivered and whether it will reach people safely.
"When aid is airdropped, it causes injuries and damage," said displaced Gaza resident Suhaib Mohammed.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement. He called it a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign and repeated his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage Palestinians to leave.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments.
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 UN said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The war began on Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's offensive 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.
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AsiaOne
15 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Famine is 'playing out' in Gaza, warns global hunger monitor, World News
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The rival aid efforts have sparked a war of words — pitting Israel, the US and the GHF against the UN, international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Israel and the US accuse Hamas of stealing aid — which the militants deny — and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of mass aid diversion in Gaza by Hamas. The IPC alert said 88 per cent of Gaza is under evacuation orders or within militarised areas. "People's access to food across Gaza is now alarmingly erratic and extremely perilous," it said. The IPC and the Famine Review Committee were both critical of the GHF efforts in the alert issued on Tuesday. The IPC said most of the GHF "food items are not ready-to-eat and require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable." The Famine Review Committee said: "Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation." The GHF says it has been able to transport aid into Gaza without any being stolen by Hamas and that it has so far distributed more than 96 million meals. The IPC alert said an estimated minimum of 62,000 metric tonnes of staple food is required every month to cover the basic food needs of the Gazan population. But it said that according to Cogat, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, only 19,900 MT of food entered Gaza in May and 37,800 MT in June. The war in Gaza was triggered on Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. [[nid:720671]]
Straits Times
16 hours ago
- Straits Times
Famine is ‘playing out' in Gaza, warns global hunger monitor
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'Formal famine declarations always lag reality,' Mr David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee aid group, said in a statement ahead of the IPC alert. 'By the time that famine was declared in Somalia in 2011, 250,000 people – half of them children under five – had already died of hunger. By the time famine is declared, it will already be too late,' he said. Starvation 'rapidly accelerating' The IPC has classified areas as being in famine four times: Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and Sudan in 2024. The IPC says it does not declare famine but instead provides an analysis to allow governments and others to do so. The IPC's independent Famine Review Committee, which vets and verifies IPC findings that warn of or identify a famine, endorsed the Gaza alert on July 29. 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The IPC alert said an estimated minimum of 62,000 tonnes of staple food is required every month to cover the basic food needs of the Gazan population. But it said that, according to Cogat, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, only 19,900 tonnes of food entered Gaza in May and 37,800 tonnes in June. The war in Gaza was triggered on Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. REUTERS
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Trump says many are starving in Gaza, vows to set up food centres
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Two Israeli defence officials said the international pressure prompted the new Israeli measures, as did the worsening conditions on the ground. United Nations agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched - short of target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said. "Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza," WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters. Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic. "At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out." Netanyahu has denied any policy of starvation towards Gaza, saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting. A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said Israel had not placed a time limit on the humanitarian pauses in its military operation, a day after UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said Israel had decided 'to support a one-week scale-up of aid". "We hope this pause will last much longer than a week, ultimately turning into a permanent ceasefire,' Fletcher's spokesperson, Eri Kaneko, said on Monday. Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Compared to last week, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said, there had only been a "small uptick" in the amount of aid being transported into Gaza since Israel started the humanitarian pauses. TRUMP SAYS HAMAS DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH In his statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would continue to fight until it achieved the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of its military and governing capabilities. Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Netanyahu about "various plans" to free hostages still held in the enclave. The war began on Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked communities across the border in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours. Some of the trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said. The Hamas-run Gaza government said only 87 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, with the majority of trucks looted due to what it described as "direct and systematic Israeli complicity". "Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed," said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City. The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave. COGAT said more than 120 truckloads of aid were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the UN and international organisations. More aid was expected on Monday. Qatar said it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies. Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Hamas accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon.
