
Israel promises to increase aid supplies to Gaza
has promised it will allow a 'substantial' increase of humanitarian aid, food and other supplies into
Gaza
, following negotiations with the European Union.
The move comes several days before
EU
foreign ministers were due to debate taking action to put pressure on Israeli prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
to end the humanitarian blockade that has choked off the supply of aid flowing into Gaza.
In a deal agreed in recent hours, Israel committed to allow trucks full of aid waiting at the border to Gaza to enter the
devastated Palestinian enclave
, a spokesman for the European Commission said.
The deal, aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis and heading off the starvation of Palestinian civilians, was negotiated by the EU's foreign affairs chief,
Kaja Kallas
and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar.
READ MORE
'These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will be continued to be taken to ensure there is no aid diversion to Hamas,' a spokesman for Ms Kallas said on Thursday.
Under the agreement Israel has committed to allow a greater number of aid trucks into Gaza, open more crossing points in the north and the south of the territory, including routes for aid to get into the strip from Jordan and Egypt.
The EU said the deal would also allow for the resumption of fuel deliveries to humanitarian facilities, and the repairing of vital infrastructure. EU officials said Israel agreed to stop blocking off the power supply of a water desalination facility which had provided clean drinking water to civilians in Gaza.
The commission, which is the EU's executive arm, said the agreement would also enable 'the distribution of food supplies to bakeries and public kitchens throughout the Gaza Strip'.
At least 57,500 Palestinian have been killed during Israel's 21-month military occupation and bombardment of Gaza, according to health authorities in the Palestinian territory.
Political pressure increased on Israel after a total blockade of aid for 11 weeks earlier this year brought the population in Gaza to the point of starvation. Aid agencies have said deliveries of food, medicine and fuel into the war-torn enclave since then have been wholly insufficient.
There have been multiple incidents of civilians being shot and killed by Israeli forces while trying to pick up aid from a small number of designated distribution centres set up under effective Israeli control in recent weeks.
The concessions from Israel come several days before the EU's 27 foreign ministers were to discuss a range of options they could take to increase pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
National day of protest over Gaza
Sir, – The Government has been brave and consistent in its condemnation of atrocities in Gaza. But it has been frustrated, too. We are a small nation and have been unable to persuade most nations, particularly our European partners, of the need for urgent action. The vast majority of the people of Ireland are frustrated also. We know that what is happening is profoundly wrong, but feel helpless to prevent it. Many march, but many others do not, fearing legitimately that they might be associated with views that they do not share, such as support for Hamas or anti-Semitism. But together, the Government and the people might be much more influential. If the Government were to call a national day of protest, making clear that it was a condemnation of atrocities in Gaza, not of Israel's right to self-determination or self-defence, the turnout would likely be enormous. It could incorporate the model for the display of appreciation for the health services during Covid so that some people need only stand outside where they live at an appointed time to register their protest. Other nations might follow suit. Some good might be achieved. At the very least, Ireland and the Irish people would have done the right thing and could not be accused of standing idly by. – Yours, etc, READ MORE MICHAEL CUSH Arran Square Dublin 7


Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 24th: On Gaza, the NDP, Repealer regret and wind farm demolition
Sir, – Your front-page picture ( Palestinian children face death , July 23rd) is horrific, and it makes me wonder why the Israeli government and its people think that it is acceptable to prevent food aid reaching Gaza. How can anyone be so heartless? You cannot defend the indefensible. Children are starving. – Yours, etc, DEE DELANY, Raheny, READ MORE Dublin 5. Sir,- The photograph on the front page (Wednesday 23rd) is beyond shocking – the skeletal limbs of little Muhammad, with a plastic bag for a nappy – and what can we do about it? We must unite in trying to find a solution – individually we are helpless. – Yours, etc, ROSARY COX, Mount Merrion, Dublin. Sir, – With every passing day more news emerges of the horrors being inflicted on the population of Gaza by the Israeli military; funded, armed and given diplomatic cover by the West. On Wednesday, Sally Hayden ('Without intervention the last reporters in Gaza will die', Page 1, July 23rd) reported that more than 100 aid organisations warned of 'mass starvation' in Gaza. With every killing of an innocent Palestinian a part of our collective humanity dies, and so does our right to call ourselves civilised people. If we are to rescue what little remains of international law and universal human rights, then our governments must work together to immediately end the suffering with concrete actions against Israel. Failure to do so will represent the greatest moral failing of our lifetimes and will cast a shadow on us all for generations to come. – Yours, etc, CALLUM SWIFT, Moycullen, Galway. Sir, – The continued conflation of Jewish identity with the actions of the Israeli state has become a dangerous and cynical distortion of the public understanding of the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Equating criticism of Israeli policy with anti-Semitism not only stifles legitimate debate but it places Jewish people around the world at risk by implying they are collectively responsible for the conduct of a government and state they may neither belong to nor support. That conflation is itself anti-Semitic. It reduces a diverse and global people into a single political ideology, silencing dissent and enabling prejudice under the guise of collective protection. Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government, despite presenting themselves as defenders of the Jewish people, have arguably become among the most effective enablers of modern anti-Semitism. Not because they hate Jews, but because they conflate Jewish identity with the actions of a nationalist state engaged in systemic oppression and weaponise that identity to deflect criticism. The fight against anti-Semitism, as with all forms of racism and sectarianism, must not be hijacked to shield a state from accountability. It must remain rooted in the defence of human dignity and not the preservation of political power. – Yours, etc, JOHN O'NEILL, Alexandra Walk, Dublin 8. Review of the National Development Plan Sir, – The big announcement emerged on July 22nd confirming an investment plan to the value of €275 billion to be implemented over the next 10 years. We will find out the details regarding what the National Development Plan (NDP) is to deliver and, of course, it'll be presented as being for the greater good of this country – as it should be. So, can we assume that the NDP will deliver on all of its promises because lessons have been learned from the many recent and not so recent experiences that have resulted in plans or commitments coming up short or falling by the wayside due to various combinations of mishaps, mistakes, misjudgements, misunderstandings and miscalculations? Will there be low or no tolerance for delays or cost overruns? It's positive to note that consideration is being given to strengthening of legislation with a view to being able to fast-track projects of national importance or to be able to exempt the requirement for some environmental impact assessment reports in relation to certain strategically significant brownfield sites. The enormous purse being allocated to this NDP will not translate into the delivery that it promises unless it is matched and robustly supported by the kind of trenchant political will and leadership that, regretfully, we haven't been seeing for some time. – Yours, etc TOM TIERNAN, Shanaway Road, Ennis. Sir , – The Government's renewed commitment to the National Development Plan is welcome, but the core challenge remains delivery. Time and again, Ireland has struggled to turn plans into reality. A key obstacle is the low threshold for initiating judicial reviews, which frequently delay or derail vital infrastructure projects. While many in politics acknowledge this issue, few appear willing to act. Without reform, we risk further stagnation. Equally troubling is a broader lack of ambition and accountability within the Civil Service. A culture of risk aversion and process over progress has taken hold, where maintaining the status quo is often prioritised over achieving results. We must confront these structural and cultural issues directly. A failure to do so will only lead to the repetition of past failures. – Yours, etc., MEL MCCARTHY, Skerries, Co Dublin. Galway, city of the traffic Anyone who lives, or has lived, in Galway will know full well that any idea of light rail for Galway is quite simply a deluded fantasy. Murt Coleman (Letters, July 23rd) happily ignores the fact that to install light rail would mean Galway coming to a dead stop for however many years it would take to construct the system. Last year your article ' Case for 'Gluas' light rail in Galway identified by feasibility study ' (Wednesday Oct 30th, 2024) showed a map of the proposed route for this fantasy light railway. This simply mimicked the east-west bus routes. Maybe this is a covert justification for the Galway Outer-Bypass or, as it would come to be known, the Galway Outer Carpark. Yours, etc, ANTHONY MORAN, Bundoran, Co Donegal. Repealers regret? Sir, – The 10,852 abortions provided in Ireland in 2024 are not a national shame – they reflect accessible, compassionate healthcare delivered at home. These are not nameless, faceless women as imagined in Breda O'Brien's article ( Admit it, the reluctant repealers were wrong , Opinion, July 19th). They are our sisters, wives, girlfriends, colleagues and nieces – real people, with real lives and real challenges. They live in the reality that contraception isn't 100 per cent effective, that life is messy, and that control over one's body is essential to dignity. Repeal didn't introduce abortion – it ended the cruelty of exporting it. Since Repeal, women no longer have to leave the country to access legal, safe, timely care. But we are still failing women every week – those who must travel to the UK because they fall outside the narrow criteria of our legislation. These women, too, deserve care and compassion at home. When Breda O'Brien raises concerns about coercion into abortion, she forgets the intergenerational trauma of women coerced into endless pregnancies – forced to give birth against their will, trapped in poverty or abuse, shamed by families or hidden away in institutions. That, too, was coercion. That, too, was violence. The pre-Repeal system didn't protect women – it punished the poor and marginalised. Women with means could leave. Those without were left with no choice at all. Abortion will always be complex and deeply personal. But what we've built is a system that offers care instead of condemnation – a system grounded not in judgement, but in empathy (ionmhá). Repeal replaced shame with dignity, silence with support, and risk with safety. That is not a failure. That is justice – and it was long overdue. BRIAN KENNEDY, Nenagh, Co Tipperary Planning Nostalgia Sir, – Unlike Evan Campbell (Letters, 27 July), I welcome The Irish Times devoting 1,800 words to a critique of the 22-storey College Square tower, as the unavoidable presence of such an addition to the skyline deserves a cultural conversation. Whether one agrees with Frank McDonald ( Tower of Darkness , Ticket, July 19th) on issues such as the appropriateness of tall buildings (I would argue density can be achieved without height) or the protection of urban vistas (I would agree the new tower has a catastrophic impact on the historic urban landscape), surely it is appropriate to have a public discussion on topics fundamentally affecting the character of the city. Dublin has plenty of capacity for tall buildings and density in appropriate locations, but this can be achieved while maintaining the quality of the historic centre. – Yours etc., STEPHEN WALL, Rialto, Dublin 8. Sir, – I rather enjoyed your retired correspondent Frank McDonald's article about the new high-rise building adjacent to Mulligans pub in Dublin, and its impact on views from Trinity College and other parts of Dublin. This brought back a few memories. In 1984 An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for a 40-storey tower on a site in Georges Quay in Dublin, proposed by the Irish Life Assurance Company. Dublin City Council (Dublin Corporation as it was then) planners had approved a scheme with a maximum height of 11 stories, but this was appealed by third parties for, among other grounds, being too high! Two different expert planning authorities had reached polar opposite views of what height should be permitted on that site. The late Carmencita Hederman, mayor of Dublin at the time, took legal action, on behalf of Dublin Corporation, against the An Bord Pleanála decision. Rather than wait for years for a court decision, Irish Life reapplied to Dublin Corporation for a 14-storey tower, which was granted this time. Following further appeals and delays the 'tower' (also known jokingly as Canary Dwarf, with its pyramid roofscape) was eventually constructed on the Georges Quay site beside Tara Street station in 2001, 19 years after the first application in 1982. Oh, the vagaries of the Irish planning system. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! – Yours, etc, MICHAEL KINSELLA, Sydney, Australia. Demolishing Derrybrien Sir, – Michael McDowell ( Opinion, July 23rd ), laments the planned dismantling of the Derrybrien wind farm, portraying it as a needless loss of renewable energy and public money. But his analysis sidesteps the fundamental reason we are in this position: noncompliance with EU environmental law. The failure to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before construction began in 2003 is not a minor technicality, but a breach of well-established EU environmental safeguards. These assessments exist to prevent precisely the kind of disaster that occurred at Derrybrien: the destabilisation of peatland, a massive landslide and the destruction of a river ecosystem, including the death of an estimated 50,000 brown trout. Had proper due diligence been carried out, this damage and the ensuing legal and financial consequences might have been avoided entirely. – Yours, etc, MICHAEL O'MEARA, Fenor, Co Waterford.


Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Aid groups warn Gaza faces famine as Israeli blockade creates ‘chaos, starvation and death'
The Trump administration's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was due to meet a senior Israeli official about ceasefire talks, a sign that lower-level negotiations that have dragged on for weeks could be approaching a breakthrough. Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and offensive, launched in response to Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Gaza is 'witnessing a deadly surge' in malnutrition and related diseases and that a 'large proportion' of its roughly two million people are starving. Israel says it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery efforts by UN agencies, which say they are hindered by Israeli restrictions. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 50 hostages it holds, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to recover all the captives and continue the war until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed. The groups said they were watching their colleagues 'waste away' In an open letter, 115 organisations, including international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and 'massacres' at aid distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the UN human rights office have said Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel said its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated. The Israeli government's 'restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death', the letter said. WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that criticism, telling reporters that acute malnutrition centres in Gaza are full of patients and lack adequate supplies. He said rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10pc and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20pc are malnourished, often severely. The UN health agency's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, said there were more than 30,000 children under five years old with acute malnutrition in Gaza, and the WHO had reports that at least 21 children under five have died so far this year. The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the criticism in the open letter and accused the groups of 'echoing Hamas's propaganda'. It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks into Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN. That is an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN said are needed, and which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year. The UN said it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, continuing fighting and a breakdown of law and order. An official familiar with ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas said Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was travelling to Rome to meet Mr Witkoff today to discuss the state of the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the negotiations. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant The evolving deal 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 hold negotiations on a lasting truce. Strikes overnight and into yesterday killed at least 21 people, more than half of them women and children, according to local health officials. One of the strikes hit a house in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Al-Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to Gaza's health ministry. The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant, and that the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties. Another strike hit an apartment in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said. A third strike hit a tent in Gaza City late on Tuesday and killed three children, Al-Shifa Hospital said. There was no immediate comment from the military on those strikes.