Jordan and UAE begin aid drops into starving Gaza after Israel pauses attacks
Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors into the strip.
The country has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.
Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which 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 starting from Sunday.
Jordan and the UAE parachuted 25 tons of aid, in the first air drop in months. Palestinian health officials in Gaza City said at least 10 people were injured by falling aid boxes.
The United Nations ' food agency welcomed the steps to ease aid restrictions, but said a broader ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need in Gaza. Unicef called it 'an opportunity to save lives.'
Dr Muneer al-Boursh, director general of Gaza's Health Ministry, called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition.
'This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives,' he said. 'Every delay is measured by another funeral.'
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.
Meanwhile, health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children.
Israel is facing increased international pressure to end the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza as US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday.
Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'.
The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would negotiate on a lasting truce under the deal.
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The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
How will Israel's ‘humanitarian pauses' affect Gaza's starvation crisis?
On Sunday morning, Israel announced it would begin a daily 'humanitarian pause' in three densely populated areas of Gaza as it comes under increasing international pressure to alleviate the territory's worsening starvation crisis. Other measures also announced include the resumption of airdropped aid, the activation of a desalination plant and the provision of humanitarian corridors to facilitate UN aid deliveries within Gaza. Last week the territory slipped into a full-blown starvation crisis, with dozens dying from hunger. According to the World Food Programme, 90,000 women and children are in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition, while one in three people are going without food for days. Doctors in Gaza have described struggling to keep up with the number of patients coming in seeking treatment for malnourishment, with few tools at their disposal to provide them help. 'Our malnutrition ward in the hospital is extremely overcrowded. Due to the large number of cases, some children are forced to sleep on the floor,' said Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the director of paediatrics at Nasser medical complex. The hunger crisis has affected virtually everyone in the Gaza Strip, with organisations like the UN describing their staff as 'walking corpses'. After resuming fighting in mid-March, Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza for two and a half months, in what it said was an attempt to exert pressure on Hamas to release hostages. In May, Israel started allowing a trickle of aid in, mostly through the private US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Israel proposed the GHF as an alternative to the UN-aid system after claiming – without providing evidence – that Hamas was systematically stealing aid from the UN. More than 1,000 people have been killed while trying to get aid, most of them near GHF food distribution sites. In total, Israel has let in 4,500 UN aid trucks into Gaza since May – an average of about 70 trucks a day. This is a far cry from prewar figures of 500-600 trucks a day, which the UN said is a requisite amount to help restore the health of Gaza's population. Israel has announced airdropped aid will resume, which humanitarian organisations have said will provide a negligible amount of supplies. It also said that humanitarian corridors will be established to facilitate the entry of UN aid trucks into Gaza, though the number of trucks that will be allowed in is unspecified. NGOs say these steps may ease aid access, but with mass starvation already under way, far more is needed. In particular, humanitarian groups have called for a full ceasefire in order to get civilians the help they need. 'We have to go back to the levels we had during the ceasefire, 500-600 trucks of aid every day managed by the UN, including Unrwa, that our teams would distribute in 400 distribution points,' said Juliette Touma, Unrwa director of communications. She explained that aid agencies had previously walked Gaza back from the brink of starvation and that to do so again, an unimpeded flow of aid would be needed to 'reverse the tide and trajectory of famine'. Unrwa, which Israel banned from operating in Gaza in January, has 6,000 trucks of aid loaded with food, medicine and other hygiene supplies in Jordan and Egypt. The WFP said on Sunday it had enough aid to feed the population of Gaza for three months. Israel's latest announcement also is unclear about how long it will maintain humanitarian pauses and corridors. Humanitarians have said that consistency is key to their work. It also appears that Israel is relaxing some of its restrictions on the role of the UN in distributing aid in Gaza, but to what extent is unclear. The UN has said that only it is able to distribute aid efficiently within the territory, pointing to the deadly killings around the GHF as an example of why expertise is needed. Palestinians are reacting to Israel's announcement with caution, unwilling to raise their hopes after repeated promises of an imminent ceasefire have fallen through. Local people said they saw no immediate difference in the availability of food and of prices – with the exception of flour, the price of which dropped 20% over night. It is the first day of Israel's humanitarian pauses, so it could be a while before increased aid has a noticeable effect on the ground. However, Gaza's population is running out of time. Each day, more people die from hunger and the number of people suffering from severe malnutrition grows. Doctors have also warned that alleviating the starvation crisis will not be as easy as flipping a switch. People who are suffering from acute malnutrition need specialised treatment, as they can develop refeeding syndrome if they resume eating normally after a prolonged period of hunger. 'All of these folks who have been deprived for so long, we worry about the complications that they may have developed,' said Dr Thaer Ahmad, a doctor who has worked on medical missions in Gaza.
The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
Jordan and UAE begin aid drops into Gaza as starvation continues
Israel announced daily 10-hour pauses in military operations and new aid corridors in parts of Gaza, effective from Sunday, to address the deepening humanitarian crisis. The pauses will occur from 10 am to 8 pm in Al-Mawasi, central Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City, with secure routes for aid convoys also established. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates conducted their first aid air drop in months, delivering 25 tons of supplies, though 10 people were injured by falling boxes. Despite these measures, Gaza health officials reported over 38 Palestinians killed in strikes from late Saturday into Sunday, including 23 seeking aid, and 17 killed waiting for aid trucks. The UN welcomed the steps but stressed the need for a broader ceasefire, as dozens of Gazans, including 87 children, have died from malnutrition, bringing the total to 133.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Jordan and UAE begin aid drops into starving Gaza after Israel pauses attacks
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have parachuted aid into the Gaza Strip, as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory deepens. Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors into the strip. The country has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which 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 starting from Sunday. Jordan and the UAE parachuted 25 tons of aid, in the first air drop in months. Palestinian health officials in Gaza City said at least 10 people were injured by falling aid boxes. The United Nations ' food agency welcomed the steps to ease aid restrictions, but said a broader ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need in Gaza. Unicef called it 'an opportunity to save lives.' Dr Muneer al-Boursh, director general of Gaza's Health Ministry, called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition. 'This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives,' he said. 'Every delay is measured by another funeral.' 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. Meanwhile, health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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 over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children. Israel is facing increased international pressure to end the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza as US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday. Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would negotiate on a lasting truce under the deal.
