Israel on Sunday announced a 10-hour suspension of military operations each day in certain areas of Gaza and the creation of new corridors for humanitarian aid in the devastated enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have sparked global concern.
Israel has come under mounting international criticism, which its government denies, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and proxy ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have broken down without any visible results.
Military operations will be suspended from 10:00 to 20:00 until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone that runs along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City in the north.
The military said safe routes for food and medical convoys would be in place from 6am to 11pm starting Sunday.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said staff were stepping up efforts to provide food to those in need during the breaks in designated areas.
“Our teams on the ground… will try to help as many hungry people as possible during this time,” he wrote in a message on X.
Health officials at al-Awda and al-Aqsa hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 others on Sunday as they waited for aid trucks. An Israeli military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thousands of Gazans have gathered in areas where they hope trucks carrying humanitarian aid will arrive on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses and local residents.
Dozens of residents have died of malnutrition in the Hamas-controlled enclave in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Gaza's Health Ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of victims from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children.
A five-month-old girl, Zainab Abu Khalib, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday, health workers said.
“Three months in the hospital and this is what I get back: she's dead,” said her mother, Israa Abu Khalib, standing next to the child's father, who holds their daughter's body wrapped in a white shroud.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said it sent more than 100 trucks carrying more than 1,200 tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.
Hours earlier, Israel began airdropping humanitarian aid in what it said was an attempt to improve the humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Last week, aid agencies reported mass starvation among 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip, and international concern about the humanitarian situation grew, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to decide to recognize a Palestinian state in September.
A group of 25 countries, including Britain, France and Canada, last week condemned the “drip-delivery of aid” and said Israel's refusal to provide needed humanitarian assistance was unacceptable.
The UN said last week that humanitarian pauses in hostilities would allow “the flow of humanitarian aid to be expanded,” adding that Israel had not provided enough alternative routes for its convoys, making it difficult to access aid.
Israel, which stopped the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in early March and resumed it with new restrictions in May, says it is willing to accept aid but must monitor it to avoid being diverted to militants.
He claims that enough food was delivered to Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gazans.
Israel and the United States appeared to abandon cease-fire talks with Hamas on Friday, saying it had become clear the militants were not interested in a deal.
Hope and despair
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
