Israel announces humanitarian pause in parts of Gaza
JERUSALEM/CAIRO - The Israeli military announced on July 27 a daily pause of its operations in parts of Gaza and the establishment of new aid corridors, after months of international pressure over a worsening hunger crisis spreading in the Palestinian enclave.
The military said it would cease activity in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice, 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 6am until 11pm, the military said.
The Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on July 27 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 July 24, the UN said humanitarian pauses in Gaza would allow "the scale 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 US appeared on July 25 to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
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.
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Palestinian children stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, in Gaza City on July 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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 UN 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. REUTERS
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