Latest news with #tactical pause
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Israel's pause on attacks and partial lifting of Gaza blockade won't end suffering in region of mass starvation
Israel 's tactical pause on Gaza attacks and partial lifting of humanitarian aid blockades there is unlikely to end acute suffering faced by 2.3 million Palestinian residents. As these pauses are expected to last a week or so, the United Nations and aid agencies are under pressure to flood Gaza with food, bottled water, medicine and fuel needed to sustain the population before Israel resumes its full-scale offensive and blockade. To carry out such a mission, aid agencies need the co-operation of Israel, which inspects all lorry loads entering Gaza and determines when and where they are allowed to make deliveries. Last weekend, Israel permitted pallets of aid to be parachuted into Gaza by Jordan and Britain, but this only amounted to a tiny amount of what is needed . Although 120 trucks carrying aid were allowed into Gaza on Sunday and 180 on Monday, 500-600 lorry loads a day are needed. It is vital that more aid is allowed through to make up for the extreme deficit of supplies. READ MORE Starvation is rife in Gaza following Israel's ban on aid agencies entering the region. Minimal food aid has been provided since May 27th by the controversial US-Israeli sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). [ A father in Gaza: Our children are dying as the world watches. We don't want your pity – we want action Opens in new window ] According to UN estimates, Israeli troops have killed 1,000 Palestinians and wounded thousands while they tried to access three GHF distribution sites. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, operated 400 aid sites throughout Gaza before Israel's blockade. Starvation is so widespread and so severe that a significant increase of special food to treat acute malnutrition is urgently needed. Starving people cannot absorb normal meals. World Food Programme emergency director Ross Smith has warned that a quarter of Gaza's population is faced with famine-like conditions and nearly 100,000 women and children require urgent treatment for severe malnutrition. He said: 'People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance every day and we are seeing this escalate day by day.' To escape long-term malnutrition, Gazans need fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and chicken which are not currently supplied. Aid parcels include sugar, salt, flour, tea, oil, lentils, fava beans and rice. Most of Gaza's people have been repeatedly displaced. Almost all families in the region live in tents and do not have the means to cook rice. There is no wood in Gaza, forcing people to burn rubbish and plastic, which can worsen health issues. Breaking the Silence, an Israeli non-governmental organisation established by former members of the Israeli Defence Force veterans, said that the new arrangements are 'the latest manifestation of a twisted logic that leverages food as a means of control, not one with an actual intent to disperse aid'.
CTV News
4 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Canadians with family in Gaza say food isn't reaching everyone
Watch As humanitarian aid re-enters Gaza amidst Israel's 'tactical pause' family members abroad say not everyone is receiving aid. CTV's Colton Praill reports.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Food airdropped into Gaza as Israel says opening aid routes
Two Jordanian and one Emirati plane on dropped 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip, Jordanian state television reported on 27 July. Israel also parachuted food aid, and trucks of flour were seen arriving in northern Gaza through a crossing from Israel, according to AFP journalists. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb Jordanian and Emirati planes dropped food into Gaza as Israel began a limited "tactical pause" in some military operations to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis. The Palestinian territory is gripped by dire humanitarian conditions created by 21 months of war and made worse by Israel's total blockade of aid from March to May. Since the easing of the blockade, the levels of aid reaching Gaza have been far below what aid groups say is needed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his government was not to blame for the dire situation and lashed out at the UN. The Israeli military dismissed allegations that it had been using starvation as a weapon, saying it had coordinated with the UN and international agencies to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip". A Palestinian boy reacts as he carries a bag of flour in the al-Mawasi camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, that was picked up from the Rafah corridor on 27 July 2025. Photo: AFP The World Health Organisation warned on Sunday that malnutrition was reaching "alarming levels" in Gaza. It said that of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 had occurred in July -- including 24 children aged under five, one child older than five, and 38 adults. "Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," the UN health agency said. "The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health and humanitarian aid has cost many lives." The UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 were "enduring famine-like conditions". UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed Israel's tactical pauses, saying his teams "will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window". People walk with sacks of flour delivered after trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered northern Gaza on 27 July, 2025 coming from the Zikim border crossing. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb The Israeli decision came as international pressure mounted on Netanyahu to prevent mass starvation in the territory. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined the chorus of concern on Sunday, urging the Israeli premier "to provide the starving civilian population in Gaza with urgently needed humanitarian aid now". Accusing the UN of fabricating "pretexts and lies about Israel" blocking aid, Netanyahu said in remarks at an airbase that "there are secure routes" for aid. "There have always been, but today it's official. There will be no more excuses," he added. The situation inside the territory deteriorated sharply after Israel imposed its total blockade on aid in March. It later eased the blockade, but sidelined the UN and major aid agencies and instead relied on a newly created, US-backed private foundation. Aid groups refused to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, accusing it of furthering Israel's military goals, while hundreds of people have been killed attempting to reach its sites. The Jordanian military said its planes, working with the United Arab Emirates, had delivered 25 tonnes of aid in three parachute drops over Gaza on Sunday. The Israeli military also said it had conducted a drop, parachuting seven pallets of aid into the territory. Truckloads of flour were also seen arriving in northern Gaza through the Zikim area crossing from Israel, according to AFP journalists. AFP correspondents also saw trucks crossing from Egypt, heading for Israeli inspection before entering Gaza. The charity Oxfam's regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called Israel's latest moves a "welcome first step" but warned they were 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." In general, humanitarian officials are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants. Gazans watch as a military plane flies over during an aid drop in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb In Gaza City's Tel el-Hawa district, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said her "life's wish" was simply to feed her children. She spoke of her husband returning empty-handed from each day from aid points. There were chaotic scenes at the site where Israel conducted its first food drop, witnesses told AFP. Samih Humeid, a 23-year-old from the Al-Karama neighbourhood of Gaza City, said dozens of people had gathered to rush towards the parachuted supplies. "It felt like a war, everyone trying to grab whatever they could. Hunger is merciless. The quantities were extremely limited, not enough even for a few people, because hunger is everywhere. I only managed to get three cans of fava beans," he said. The Israeli army's daily pause from 10am to 8pm will be limited to areas where its troops are not currently operating -- Al-Mawasi in the south, Deir el-Balah in the centre and Gaza City in the north. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing "reasonable grounds" to suspect war crimes including starvation - charges Israel vehemently denies. On Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defence agency, Israeli army fire killed 27 Palestinians, 12 of them near aid distribution areas. 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 7 October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1219 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
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Jordan and UAE aid drops underway in Gaza during Israel's 'tactical pause'
Jordan and the UAE have dropped aid into Gaza after Israel began a "tactical pause" in fighting to mitigate a worsening humanitarian military said its planes, working with the UAE, had delivered 25 tonnes of aid in three drops on Sunday. A lorry convoy also entered from Egypt and another is due from Jordan. Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and allow aid corridors, to "refute the false claim of intentional starvation".However, medics reported nine killed and 54 injured by Israeli fire near an aid convoy route in central Gaza. An airstrike also hit a residential block an hour after a pause came into effect on Saturday. Gaza air drops 'a grotesque distraction', aid agencies warn Local sources told the BBC that nine people were shot in the Netzarim Corridor along Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, where many civilians had gathered in anticipation of incoming UN aid convoys. Victims were taken to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, a medical official at the facility Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops "fired warning shots" at a "gathering of suspects" approaching them. It said it was not aware of any BBC Verify geolocated an airstrike to Midhat Al-Wahidy Street in Al-Rimal district of western Gaza City - which Israel had designated an hour before as an area where operations would verification was based on witness reports and two geolocated videos published earlier on Sunday. The IDF said it had checked the coordinates and were not aware of a aid trucks arriving in the strip on Sunday were swarmed as desperate Palestinians tried to grab bags of flour from an aid truck near a food distribution point in Zikim, northern has come under intense international pressure over recent weeks to allow aid into the territory it controls, amid reports of mass starvation. The UN's World Food Programme says a third of the two million population of Gaza does not eat for several days at a time, and a quarter were "enduring famine-like conditions".More than 100 people have been reported by the Hamas-run health ministry to have died from malnutrition in recent days. Hundreds have meanwhile been killed by gunfire as they attempted to get food from the limited number of distribution points run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The UK's foreign secretary, David Lammy, said Israel's concessions over the weekend alone would not alleviate the suffering in Gaza."Whilst air drops will help to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid into Gaza," he said in a statement."These measures must be fully implemented and further barriers on aid removed. The world is watching."Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, meanwhile called for more international pressure to end the war. Every day, he said, brought "more destruction, more killings, and the further dehumanisation of Palestinians".Donald Trump, the US president, said he would be sending more aid to Gaza but urged this was "an international problem - it's not a US problem". Residents of Gaza have cautiously welcomed reports of a temporary humanitarian pause allowing food and medicine to enter the besieged enclave. "Of course I feel a bit of hope again, but also worried that starvation would continue once the pause is over," Rasha Al-Sheikh Khalil, a mother of four in Gaza City, told the Saleh, a mother of six, said her family hadn'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."Imad Kudaya, a local journalist in Gaza and from al-Mawasi, in the south of the Strip, said most of the air drop packages "have fallen in demilitarised places where if you go there you will put yourself in a very big risk"."Those place are evacuated and under Israeli control - so it is risky."Even as air drops and convoys headed into Gaza, Israel's prime minister promised his country would "continue to fight, we will continue to act until we achieve all of our war goals - until complete victory".During his visit to Ramon Air Force Base in the Negev Desert, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had always allowed aid into Gaza, and that the UN had unfairly blamed his government for the crisis."There are secure routes. There have always been, but today it's official. There will be no more excuses," he the new measures, Israel said it would suspend fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid IDF said it would open humanitarian corridors for aid convoys in Gaza to allow the UN and other organisations to deliver food and medicine to Palestinians across the strip. The routes would be in place from 06:00 to 23:00 local time (04:00 BST to 21:00 BST).The pause in military activity would take place in three areas - Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City - from 10:00 to 20:00 local time (08:00 BST to 18:00 BST) each day until further notice, the IDF apparent concessions followed its acceptance of a Jordanian and UAE plan, backed by the UK, to air drop aid into Gaza. Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Netanyahu: ‘No more excuses' for UN after Gaza aid routes opened
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Jerusalem — Jordanian and Emirati planes dropped food into Gaza on Sunday, as Israel began a limited 'tactical pause' in military operations to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis. The Israeli military said it had also begun airdropping food into the Palestinian territory -- making one drop of seven palettes -- while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected what he characterised as UN 'lies' that his government was to blame for the dire humanitarian situation. The army also dismissed allegations that it had been using starvation as a weapon, saying 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 tactical pauses, saying 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'. But the UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 people were 'enduring famine-like conditions' that were already leading to deaths. The Israeli decision came as international pressure mounted on Netanyahu's government to head off the risk of mass starvation in the territory. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined the chorus of concern on Sunday, urging Netanyahu 'to provide the starving civilian population in Gaza with urgently needed humanitarian aid now.' Accusing the UN of fabricating 'pretexts and lies about Israel' blocking aid, Netanyahu said in remarks at an airbase that 'there are secure routes' for aid. 'There have always been, but today it's official. There will be no more excuses,' he added. Since Israel imposed a total blockade on aid entering Gaza on March 2, the situation inside the territory has deteriorated sharply. More than 100 NGOs warned this week of 'mass starvation'. Though aid has trickled back in since late May, the UN and humanitarian agencies say Israeli restrictions remain excessive and road access inside Gaza is tightly controlled. 'Life's wish' The Jordanian military said its planes, working with the United Arab Emirates, had delivered 25 tonnes of aid in three parachute drops over Gaza on Sunday. Truckloads of flour were also seen arriving in northern Gaza through the Zikim area crossing from Israel, according to AFP journalists. The charity Oxfam's regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called Israel's latest moves a 'welcome first step' but warned they 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.' In general, humanitarian officials are deeply sceptical airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants. 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. Chaotic scenes broke out at the site where Israel conducted its first food drop, witnesses told AFP. Samih Humeid, a 23-year-old from the Al-Karama neighbourhood of Gaza City, said dozens of people had gathered to rush towards the palettes of supplies parachuted onto the area. 'It felt like a war, everyone trying to grab whatever they could. Hunger is merciless. The quantities were extremely limited, not enough even for a few people, because hunger is everywhere. I only managed to get three cans of fava beans,' he said. In a social media post, the Israeli military announced it had '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'. AFP journalists saw Egyptian trucks crossing from Rafah, with cargo routed through Israel's Kerem Shalom checkpoint for inspection before entering Gaza. The Israeli army's daily pause from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm will be limited to areas where its troops are not currently operating -- Al-Mawasi in the south, central Deir el-Balah and Gaza City in the north. Israel said 'designated secure routes' would also open across Gaza for aid convoys carrying food and medicine. The military said the measures should disprove 'the false claim of deliberate starvation'. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing 'reasonable grounds' to suspect war crimes including starvation -- charges Israel vehemently denies. Activists intercepted On Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defence agency, Israeli army fire killed 27 Palestinians, 12 of them near aid distribution areas. 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. 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 and had met with 19 of the 21 detained activists and journalists from 10 countries. The other two detainees, dual US-Israeli nationals, had been transferred to Israeli police custody, the group said. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 7, 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
