IDF says Gaza aid airdrops to begin amid growing starvation
The statement issued late Saturday came after increasing accounts of starvation-related deaths in Gaza following months of experts' warnings of famine.
International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid.
The military's statement did not say when the humanitarian corridors for UN convoys would open, or where.
It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas.
The statement added that the military 'emphasises that combat operations have not ceased' in Gaza against Hamas.
And it asserts there is 'no starvation' in the territory.
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes and gunshots have killed at least 53 people, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service.
Gunfire killed at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north, said staff from Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken.
Israel's military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd 'in response to an immediate threat,' and it was not aware of any casualties.
A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realised it was Israel's tanks.
That's when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed.
'We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed,' he said.
On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired toward crowds who tried to get food from an entering UN convoy, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital, told the AP.
'We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,' he said. There was no immediate Israeli military comment.
Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.
Another Israeli strike killed at least eight people, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the city of Khan Younis in the south, according to the Nasser hospital, which received the bodies.
Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital's morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel's military.
The United Nations and experts say Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine.
'We only want enough food to end our hunger,' said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six.
Israel on Saturday said over 250 trucks carrying aid from the UN and other organisations entered Gaza this week.
About 600 trucks were entering per day during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to ceasefire talks.
A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and described the recall of the Israeli and US delegations as a pressure tactic.
Egypt and Qatar, which mediate the talks alongside the United States, called the pause only temporary and said talks would resume. They did not say when.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Israel announces pauses in Gaza to allow aid for hungry
Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN 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 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population. Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN 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 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population. Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN 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 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population. Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN 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 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population.
ABC News
9 hours ago
- ABC News
Israel announces 'pause' to fighting in parts of Gaza as aid drops resume
Israel is halting the bombardment of densely populated parts of Gaza for 10 hours a day, as it yields to international pressure to let more aid into the war-ravaged strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the so-called "tactical pause" would be in place in areas around Deir al Balah, Gaza City, and the Mawasi camp. Until last week, Deir al Balah had been largely spared from Israeli strikes and shelling as it was believed to be the location where Hamas was holding Israeli hostages. There are 50 hostages held in Gaza, with 20 of them believed to still be alive. The population in Mawasi has surged in recent weeks, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Khan Younis and beyond were told to move to the coastal zone as displacement orders were expanded elsewhere in the strip, turning the area into a sea of tents. "This decision was coordinated with the UN and international organisations following discussions regarding the matter," the IDF said in a statement. The IDF "pauses" will run daily from 10am to 8pm "until further notice," it said. Israeli strikes elsewhere are expected to continue unchanged. Palestinian health authorities announced another five deaths from starvation late on Saturday, raising the death toll to 127 people, including 85 children. "A humanitarian truce is not a time for silence, but rather for saving those who remain alive," said the director general of Gaza's Ministry of Health, Dr Munir Al-Barsh, in a statement. "In light of a temporary truce stifled by international hesitation and silence, the wounded are crying out for help, children are starving, and mothers are collapsing over the ruins of what remains of life. "This truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives. "Every delay is measured by another funeral, and every silence means another child dying in its mother's arms without medicine or milk." Dr Al-Barsh said urgent medical evacuations were needed for patients requiring serious surgery and complex treatments, and the urgent entry of aid such as baby formula, nutritional supplements, and antibiotics. The development followed an announcement on Saturday night, local time, that the Israeli military would begin airdrops of aid into the strip. Seven pallets were dropped, carrying flour, sugar, and canned food. There are reports that as many as 11 Palestinians were injured as the pallets fell on their tents. The IDF also announced it would create "secure corridors" for the United Nations and aid agencies to pick up supplies sitting at the Gaza border and distribute them through the strip. A key criticism of Israel in recent weeks has been that it was too dangerous and difficult to collect the supplies, which are sitting on the Gaza side of the border, because of Israel's ongoing military activity. Israel has accused the UN of failing to do its job in taking the aid where it is needed. The humanitarian corridors will operate from 6am to 11pm daily. Philippe Lazarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA — the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees — called the airdrop announcement a "distraction". "Man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will," he said in a post on X. "Airdrops will not prevent aid diversion, principled humanitarian assistance will … Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper, and safer. It's more dignified for the people of Gaza."
9 News
15 hours ago
- 9 News
The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Some readers may find the details in this story distressing A mother pressed a final kiss to what remained of her five-month-old daughter and wept. Esraa Abu Halib's baby now weighed less than when she was born. On a sunny street in shattered Gaza, the bundle containing Zainab Abu Halib represented the latest death from starvation after 21 months of war and Israeli restrictions on aid. Esraa Abu Halib shows to journalists a photo of her five-month-old baby Zainab, who died from malnutrition-related causes, according to the family and the hospital, as she stands outside the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on the Gaza Strip. (AP) The baby was brought to the paediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday. A worker at the morgue carefully removed her Mickey Mouse-printed shirt, pulling it over her sunken, open eyes. He pulled up the hems of her pants to show her knobby knees. His thumb was wider than her ankle. He could count the bones of her chest. The girl had weighed over three kilograms when she was born, her mother said. Ahmed Abu Halib and his wife Esraa Abu Halib mourn over the body of their five-month-old baby, Zainab. (AP) When she died, she weighed less than two kilograms. A doctor said it was a case of 'severe, severe starvation.' She was wrapped in a white sheet for burial and placed on the sandy ground for prayers. The bundle was barely wider than the imam's stance. He raised his open hands and invoked Allah once more. Zainab was one of 85 children to die of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza during the war, according to the latest toll released by the territory's Health Ministry on Saturday. It said 127 people had died of malnutrition-related causes overall, with the adult deaths counted in just the past few weeks. Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid, unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that was heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, file) (AP) 'She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza," Zainab's father, Ahmed Abu Halib, told The Associated Press as he prepared for her funeral prayers in the hospital's courtyard in the southern city of Khan Younis. Dr Ahmed al-Farah, head of the paediatric department, said the girl had needed a special type of formula that helps with babies allergic to cow's milk. He said she hadn't suffered from any diseases, but the lack of the formula led to chronic diarrhea and vomiting. She wasn't able to swallow as her weakened immune system led to a bacterial infection and sepsis, and quickly lost more weight. The child's family, like many of Gaza's Palestinians, lives in a tent, displaced. Her mother, who also has suffered from malnutrition, said she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula. 'With my daughter's death, many will follow,' she said. 'Their names are on a list that no one looks at. They are just names and numbers. We are just numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers.' Her loose robe hid her own weight loss. The arrival of children suffering from malnutrition has surged in recent weeks, al-Farah said. His department, with a capacity of eight beds, has been treating about 60 cases of acute malnutrition. They have placed additional mattresses on the ground. Another malnutrition clinic, affiliated with the hospital, receives an average of 40 cases weekly, he said. 'Unless the crossings are opened and food and baby formula are allowed in for this vulnerable segment of Palestinian society, we will witness unprecedented numbers of deaths,' he warned. Doctors and aid workers in Gaza blame Israel's restrictions on the entry of aid and medical supplies. Food security experts warn of famine in the territory of over two million people. After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for two-and-a-half months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Palestinians react after carrying the bodies of those killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4500 trucks for the UN and other aid groups to distribute, including 2500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, Israel's Foreign Ministry said last week. Israel says baby formula has been included, plus formula for special needs. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN says are needed for Gaza. The UN says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its arriving trucks. Separately, Israel has backed the US-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which in May opened four centres distributing boxes of food supplies. More than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new aid sites, the UN human rights office says. Much of Gaza's population now relies on aid. 'There was a shortage of everything,' the mother of Zainab said as she grieved. 'How can a girl like her recover?' Late on Saturday, Israel's foreign ministry announced that a humanitarian pause would begin on Sunday morning in parts of Gaza to allow for more aid delivery, and it added: 'Israel rejects the false accusations of 'starvation' propaganda initiated by Hamas which manipulates pictures of children suffering from terminal diseases. It is shameful.' Israel Hamas Conflict Gaza Israel Palestine World CONTACT US
