Israel halts Gaza strikes 10 hours daily to allow aid as famine deaths rise
Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm — 3pm to 4am Malaysia time — until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in 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 starting from today.
UN 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.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
A total of 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, the ministry said.
Yesterday, a five-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers said.
'Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead,' said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, standing next to the baby's father as he held their daughter's body, which was wrapped in a white shroud.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending today more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tonnes of food aid to southern Gaza 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 that the militants did not want a deal.
Hope, uncertainty
Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about today's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently.
'People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza,' said Tamer Al-Burai, a business owner.
'We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up.'
Some others voiced concern about how aid will be delivered and whether it will reach people safely.
'Aid should enter in a logical way. When aid is airdropped, it causes injuries and damage,' said displaced Gaza resident Suhaib Mohammed.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement yesterday 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 entire 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 United Nations 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 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population. — Reuters
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