27-07-2025
Israel allows humanitarian aid to enter Gaza but will that be enough to tackle mass starvation?
Amid growing international condemnation and warnings of starvation, Israel has announced it will allow humanitarian aid convoys into the Gaza Strip, pausing military activity in certain areas and opening new corridors to facilitate delivery. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the 'tactical pause' will be observed daily in parts of Al Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City, with designated 'secure routes' for aid trucks.
UNICEF and the World Food Programme have welcomed the move, with UNICEF calling it 'an opportunity to begin to reverse this catastrophe and save lives.' But both organisations stressed the need for more: not just pauses in fighting, but additional humanitarian corridors and safe, sustained access for both aid and commercial deliveries.
For months, Gaza's 2 million people have faced a near-total blockade on food, water, medicine, and electricity. Border closures and continuous airstrikes have left shelves empty, hospitals overwhelmed, and families struggling to survive. It has been under a tight Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007, after Hamas took control of the territory.
The pause in military action follows airdrops of food supplies, including one by Israel delivering seven packages of flour, sugar, and canned food, and a joint Jordan-UAE operation parachuting 25 tonnes of aid.
Jordan alone says it has carried out 127 such missions since the war began. Photographs on Sunday showed lorries queuing at Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a critical chokepoint where most land-based aid is held up.
But for many Palestinians, the help has come too little, too late.
'Of course I feel a bit of hope again, but also worried that starvation would continue once the pause is over,' said Rasha Al-Sheikh Khalil, a mother of four in Gaza City, speaking to the BBC. 'One convoy of aid or a few air drop packages won't be enough. We need a real solution, an end to this nightmare, an end to the war.'
Another resident, Neveen Saleh, told the BBC, 'this isn't just about quantity of food, it's about quality. We haven't eaten a single fresh fruit or vegetable in four months. There's no chicken, no meat, no eggs. All we have are canned foods that are often expired and flour.'
Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said the so-called 'tactical pauses' were not enough. 'Gaza's land borders must immediately be opened 24/7, making these undignified airdrops unnecessary,' he told Al Jazeera. 'Let's not forget that over 100 people have been starved to death by Israel. Netanyahu must face international justice for the crime of starvation.'
Oxfam's policy lead for Gaza, Bushra Khalidi, echoed those concerns, saying, 'deadly airdrops and a trickle of trucks won't undo months of engineered starvation… What's needed is the immediate opening of all crossings for full, unhindered, and safe aid delivery across all of Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.'
Israel, which controls Gaza's borders and airspace, had completely halted aid entry between March and May. It later established a controversial system requiring people to walk to militarised aid hubs, locations that the UN has described as 'death traps,' saying that over 1,000 Palestinians were killed trying to access food.
Despite accusations from rights groups and UN officials that it was using starvation as a weapon of war, Israel denies any wrongdoing. It says the distribution responsibility lies with international agencies and that the new restrictions were designed to prevent aid from being diverted to Hamas.
The World Health Organization's director, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the situation as 'man-made mass starvation.' On Sunday, the Hamas-run health ministry said six more people had died from malnutrition, bringing the total to 133—most in recent weeks.
As part of the new measures, Israel has approved a clean water pipeline from a desalination plant in Egypt to Gaza's Al Mawasi region, intended to serve 600,000 residents independently of Israel's own water systems.
A power line to a Gaza desalination plant has also been restored.
But even as aid trickles in, violence continues.
On Sunday, nine Palestinians were reportedly killed and 54 injured by Israeli gunfire while trying to reach an aid convoy route in central Gaza. Whether these steps will bring lasting relief remains uncertain. For now, aid workers and residents alike brace for the limited window of help.
