Aid airdropped into Gaza as Israel temporarily halts military operations
Israel announced on Sunday a pause in military activity during specific hours in areas where many residents live as evacuees.
Israel also said that designated secure routes will be in place to enable the United Nations and other aid organizations to deliver supplies safely.
The move comes as global outrage increased over rising deaths of Palestinians from starvation after Israel imposed restrictions on the delivery of aid.
Local media say that the total amount of airdropped aid by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday was about 25 tons.
At the Rafah crossing on the border between Gaza and Egypt, trucks carrying supplies headed toward the strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted on the same day that Israel is making progress on both fighting and negotiations, and that it will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are released.
Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that a house in northern Gaza was hit by an Israeli attack, and a mother and her four children were killed.
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Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Japan Times
Israeli military chief opposes Gaza war expansion, raising pressure on Netanyahu
Israel's military chief has pushed back against Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to seize areas of Gaza it doesn't already control, three Israeli officials said, as the Israeli prime minister faces increasing pressure over the war both at home and abroad. During a tense, three-hour meeting on Tuesday, Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, warned the prime minister that taking the rest of Gaza could trap the military in the territory, which it withdrew from two decades ago, and could lead to harm to the hostages being held there, the sources briefed on the meeting said. The Israeli military says it already controls 75% of Gaza after nearly two years of war, which began when militant group Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities in October 2023. It has repeatedly opposed imposing military rule, annexing the territory, and rebuilding Jewish settlements there — policies advocated by some government members. Netanyahu is under intense international pressure to reach a ceasefire in the coastal enclave, which has been reduced to rubble in the fighting. Most of the population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times and aid groups say residents are on the verge of famine. The U.N. has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza "deeply alarming" if true. The military, which accuses Hamas of operating amongst civilians, has at times avoided areas where intelligence suggested hostages were held and former captives have said their captors threatened to kill them if Israeli forces approached. Netanyahu told Zamir that so far the military had failed to bring about the release of the hostages, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Most of those freed so far came about as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X Wednesday that the military chief has both the right and the duty to voice his opinion, but said that the military would carry out the government's decisions until all war objectives are achieved. The prime minister's office confirmed the meeting with Zamir on Tuesday but declined to comment further and the military did not respond to a request for comment. The prime minister is scheduled to discuss military plans for Gaza with other ministers on Thursday. A fourth source said Netanyahu wants to expand military operations in Gaza to put pressure on Hamas. Eyal Zamir, Israel's military chief of staff, pushed back against plans to expand the war in Gaza, warning it could trap troops in the enclave and bring harm to the hostages. | REUTERS Netanyahu, who in May said that Israel would control all of Gaza, leads the most right-wing coalition government in Israel's history and some of his key partners have in the past threatened to quit if the government ended the war. Following a 40-minute meeting with the prime minister on Wednesday, opposition leader Yair Lapid told reporters he had advised Netanyahu that the public was not interested in continuing the war and that a full military takeover would be a very bad idea. A public poll last month by Israel's Channel 12 also showed support for a diplomatic deal that would end the war and secure the release of the hostages. There are 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, of whom at least 20 are believed to be alive. Videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, last week of two extremely emaciated captives triggered international condemnation. Close to 200 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began, about half of them children, according to Gaza's health ministry. More than 20 died on Wednesday when a truck believed to be carrying food overturned as it was swarmed by a desperate crowd, according to local health authorities. The latest ceasefire talks in Qatar broke down last month. Hamas insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war, while Israel accuses the group of lacking sincerity about giving up power afterward and must be defeated. An expansion of the military offensive in heavily populated areas would likely be devastating. "Where will we go?" said Tamer Al-Burai, a displaced Palestinian living at the edge of Deir Al Balah in central Gaza. "Should people jump into the sea if the tanks rolled in, or wait to die under the rubble of their houses? We want an end to this war, it is enough, enough," he said by phone. The war in Gaza has also overextended Israel's military, which has a small standing army and has had to repeatedly mobilize reservists. It is not clear if more reservists would be needed to expand operations and take more territory. The military continued to carry out airstrikes across Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 135 people in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said, with the death toll since the beginning of the conflict now at more than 61,000, mostly civilians, it says. About 1,200 people were killed, including more than 700 civilians, and 251 hostages taken to Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Japan Today
21 hours ago
- Japan Today
Israel orders army to carry out gov't decisions on Gaza
A Palestinian girl at the site of an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City By Herve Bar and Gianluca Pacchiani Israel's military will have to carry out any government decisions on Gaza, the defense minister said Wednesday after reported disagreements over the prospect of a full occupation of the Palestinian territory. As the war nears its 23rd month, signs of a rift over Israel's strategy have emerged with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preparing to announce a new plan. Netanyahu is expected to convene his security cabinet on Thursday to finalise a decision on the expansion of the offensive, Israeli media reported. He has said Israel must "complete" the defeat of Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack that triggered the war. The Israeli press, citing officials speaking on condition of anonymity, has predicted an escalation of operations, including in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, such as Gaza City and refugee camps. On Wednesday, the military issued a fresh evacuation call for parts of Gaza City, in the north, and Khan Yunis in the south, where a spokesman said ground troops were preparing to "expand the scope of combat operations". Media reports in Israel have said Netanyahu and his cabinet may order a full military occupation of Gaza, allegedly sparking dissension from armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. On Tuesday, Netanyahu held a three-hour meeting with security chiefs including Zamir to discuss options for the continuation of the war, the premier's office said in a statement. At the meeting, Zamir warned that a full occupation would be like "walking into a trap", public broadcaster Kan reported. Channel 12 television said the armed forces chief suggested alternatives to a full occupation, such as encircling specific areas where Hamas militants are believed to be hunkering down. Defence Minister Israel Katz said in post on X that while "it is the right and duty of the chief of staff to express his position in the appropriate forums", the military is bound by any decisions made by the government. "Once decisions are made by the political echelon, the IDF will execute them with determination and professionalism," Katz said, using an acronym for the Israeli military. Trump says 'up to Israel' Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he told Netanyahu in a Wednesday meeting that "occupying Gaza is a very bad idea... operationally, morally and economically". U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday he was not aware of plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, but said that such a decision would be "up to Israel". The Israeli government is under growing pressure to bring the war to an end, with mounting concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and increasing alarm among Israelis about the fate of the remaining hostages. Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. International criticism has surged over the suffering of the more than two million Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza after the United Nations warned that famine is unfolding in the territory. According to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, just 1.5 percent of Gaza's farmland is accessible and undamaged -- less than a square mile -- according to the latest satellite survey published Wednesday. "Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine," the FAO's director-general Qu Dongyu said in a statement. "People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods." Gaza's civil defence agency said that at least 22 people were killed overnight when an aid truck overturned onto a crowd of people hoping to collect food rations. "The truck overturned while hundreds of civilians were waiting for food aid" in central Gaza, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. He said that "the truck had been forced by the Israeli army to take dangerous roads" that had been damaged in bomardments. The Hamas-run government accused Israel of "deliberately obstructing the safe passage and distribution of the aid". Asked by AFP, a military official said the army was not involved in the incident. At the end of May, Israel eased the aid blockade it had imposed in early March. But the United Nations says the quantities of aid being allowed into Gaza are still insufficient. The October 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,158 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which are considered reliable by the United Nations. © 2025 AFP
NHK
a day ago
- NHK
Death toll continues to rise amid plan of expanding military operation in Gaza
Local authorities in Gaza say the death toll in the enclave has exceeded 61,000, as Israeli military operations and severe food shortages continue. Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for parts of Gaza on Wednesday, as they continue their attacks against the Islamic group Hamas. Local health officials said on Tuesday that 87 residents had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 61,020 since the conflict began in October 2023. They also said 188 people had died from famine and malnutrition as of Tuesday, with half of the dead being children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly decided on a plan to expand the military operation in Gaza to destroy Hamas. On Tuesday, the prime minister's office announced that the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces presented to Netanyahu the options for continuing the campaign in Gaza. Israeli media say the chief of staff expressed concerns over endangering hostages held in Gaza, but said the military is preparing to implement the decision once it is made. Media also say the Israeli security cabinet is scheduled to convene on Thursday. There are concerns that, if the military operation is actually expanded, it could lead to further casualties among Gaza residents.
