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Israel announces Gaza aid airdrops, corridors amid international pressure after starvation crisis
Palestinians gather as they carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, amid a hunger crisis, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. File Image/Reuters
Israel's military announced that airdrops of humanitarian aid over Gaza would begin Saturday night, along with new corridors for United Nations convoys, following growing reports of starvation-related deaths in the territory. The announcement came after months of warnings from experts about famine conditions due to Israeli restrictions on aid access.
In a statement released late Saturday, the Israeli military said it would also implement 'humanitarian pauses' in densely populated areas, but stressed that combat operations against Hamas would continue. Israel's foreign ministry added that the pauses would begin Sunday in 'civilian centres' alongside the aid corridors. However, the military maintained there is 'no starvation' in Gaza, where over two million people—mostly displaced—are heavily dependent on aid to survive.
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The exact locations for the planned airdrops and humanitarian corridors were not specified. The military said the effort would be coordinated with international aid organizations. The newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by Israel, may also play a role. GHF chair Johnnie Moore said the group is ready to assist.
The move follows intensifying global criticism—including from Israel's allies—after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in recent weeks while attempting to access food. Witness accounts from Gaza paint a grim picture: health workers too weak from hunger to function, children dying from malnutrition, and people risking their lives under fire in desperate attempts to reach food aid.
On Saturday, at least 53 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, many of them while seeking aid, according to Gaza's health officials and ambulance services. In two incidents near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for aid trucks. At least a dozen were killed in one of the incidents, according to staff at Gaza's Shifa hospital. The military claimed it fired warning shots in response to an 'immediate threat.'
A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, described how people mistook an incoming light for aid trucks, only to discover it was Israeli tanks. 'We went because there is no food … and nothing was distributed,' he said, adding that his uncle was among the dead.
Later that evening, Israeli troops reportedly fired at another crowd gathered around a U.N. aid convoy, killing at least 11 and injuring 120, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital. The death toll was expected to rise.
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AP footage from the scene showed men carrying a body and sacks of flour. 'You die to fetch some food for your children,' said one man, Fayez Abu Riyala, visibly exhausted and sweating.
In southern Gaza's Khan Younis, Israeli forces reportedly shot and killed nine people trying to access aid via the Morag corridor. There was no immediate military comment. Elsewhere, Israeli airstrikes killed four people in a Gaza City apartment and eight—including four children—in a tent camp in Muwasi, according to hospitals.
The aid airdrops were requested by Jordan and are expected to include food and baby formula. The UAE said its airdrops would begin 'immediately,' while the UK announced plans to support airdrops and evacuate children needing medical care.
However, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that airdrops are 'expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians,' and will not address the root of the starvation crisis or prevent aid from being diverted.
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While the Israeli army claims it is not limiting the number of trucks entering Gaza, the UN says military restrictions and lawlessness on the ground are hampering delivery. Hamas police, once responsible for securing aid convoys, have been largely wiped out by airstrikes.
According to Israel, more than 250 aid trucks entered Gaza this week. That's far below the approximately 600 trucks that crossed daily during a ceasefire that ended in March.
International pressure on Israel continues to build. Over 25 Western-aligned nations and more than 100 aid and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, criticizing the blockade and Israel's new aid delivery model.
The UN human rights office says more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach aid since May—many near the newly established GHF distribution sites.
Even aid workers are struggling to secure food. Inside Gaza, malnourished children with no prior health issues have started dying from hunger.
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'All we want is enough food to stop starving,' said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City, where he was trying to feed his family of six.
Meanwhile, an activist boat named Handala attempting to deliver aid to Gaza livestreamed video of Israeli forces boarding it around midnight. Israeli authorities have not commented on the incident.
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