DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military on Sunday began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, part of a series of steps that included multiple airdrops as concerns over surging hunger in the territory mount and Israel faces a wave of international criticism over its conduct in the 21-month war.
The military said it would begin a daily “tactical pause” in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, three areas of the territory with large populations, to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid” entering the territory. The pause was running from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time and was to be repeated each day until further notice.
In a sign of how precarious the situation remained for people in Gaza, shortly after the pause began, Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in Gaza City killed a woman and her four children. A second strike killed four people, including a young boy, his mother and his grandfather, in the eastern Zaytoun neighborhood, health officials said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike.
Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, without providing evidence for that claim.
Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned.
'Every delay is measured by another funeral'
Israel said the new measures were taking place while it continues its offensive against Hamas in other areas. Health officials in Gaza said at least 38 Palestinians were killed in separate strikes from late Saturday into Sunday, including 23 people seeking aid.
As part of the eased restrictions, the military also said that it would put in place secure routes for aid delivery. It also said it carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food.
Jordan announced it had carried out three airdrops over the skies of Gaza, including one in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates. It said the cargo planes had dropped 25 tons of food and supplies on several locations in Gaza.
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.”
Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the latest steps remained “far from adequate to address the staggering needs in Gaza.” She called for the opening of all crossings and unrestricted humanitarian access into Gaza.
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.”
Negotiating teams recalled
The local pause in fighting came days after ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hamas appeared to be in doubt.
Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar on Thursday, blaming Hamas, and Israel said it was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with the militant group.
Israel says it is prepared to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something the group has refused to agree to.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi said that Israel's change of tack on the humanitarian crisis amounted to an acknowledgement that there were starving Palestinians in Gaza and that the move was meant to improve its international standing and not save lives.
He said that Israel “will not escape punishment and will inevitably pay the price for these criminal practices.”
Famine-like conditions
After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for 2 1/2 months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the U.N. and other aid groups to distribute. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed for Gaza. The U.N. says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its arriving trucks.
As a way to divert aid delivery away from the U.N.'s control, Israel has backed the U.S.-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which in May opened four centers distributing boxes of food. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new aid sites, the U.N. human rights office says.
Israel has railed against the U.N. throughout the war, saying that its system allowed Hamas to steal aid. The U.N. denies that claim and says its delivery mechanism was the best way to bring aid to Palestinians.
The military said the new steps were made in coordination with the U.N. and other humanitarian groups.
Much of Gaza’s population, squeezed by fighting into ever tinier patches of land, now relies on aid.
The World Food Program said that a third of Gaza's population of around 2 million were not eating for days and nearly half a million were enduring famine-like conditions. It said it had enough food in or on its way to the region to feed all of Gaza for nearly three months.
At least 38 killed in latest strikes
The Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said Israeli forces killed at least 13 people, including four children and a woman, and wounded 101 as they were headed toward a GHF aid distribution site in central Gaza.
GHF, which denies involvement in any of the violence near its sites, said there were no incidents at or near its sites. The military said it was looking into the report.
Ten other people were killed seeking aid in multiple areas of Gaza, including northwestern Gaza City, where more than 50 people were wounded, hospital officials and medics said.
The military, which had no immediate comment on the strikes, announced Sunday that two more soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total number to 898 since Oct. 7, 2023.
The war began with Hamas' October 2023 attack on southern Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Hamas still holds 50 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Wafaa Shurafa, Tia Goldenberg And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press
