Israel begins daily pause in fighting in 3 Gaza areas to allow ‘minimal’ aid as hunger grows

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military on Sunday began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of the Gaza Strip for 10 hours a day, part of measures including airdrops as concerns grow over surging hunger and as Israel faces international criticism over its conduct in the 21-month war.

The military said the “tactical pause” in Gaza City, Deir al Balah and Muwasi, three areas with large populations, would increase humanitarian aid entering the territory. The pause runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily until further notice.

“Whichever path we choose, we will have to continue to allow the entry of minimal humanitarian supplies,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

As the military had warned, combat operations continued otherwise. Health officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 41 Palestinians from late Saturday into Sunday, including 26 seeking aid.

Images of emaciated children have fanned criticism of Israel, including by allies, who call for the war’s end. Israel has restricted aid to Gaza’s population of more than 2 million because it says Hamas siphons it off to bolster its rule, though it has not provided evidence for that claim. Much of the population, squeezed into ever-smaller patches of land, now relies on aid.

“I came to get flour for my children because they have not tasted flour for more than a week, and thank God, God provided me with a kilo of rice with difficulty,” said Sabreen Hassona, as other Palestinians trudged along a dusty road carrying sacks of food.

‘Every delay is measured by another funeral’

Israel’s military said 28 aid packages containing food were airdropped Sunday, and it said it would put in place secure routes for aid delivery. It said the new steps were made in coordination with the United Nations and other humanitarian groups.

The U.N. World Food Program welcomed the steps and said it had enough food in, or on its way, to feed all of Gaza for nearly three months. It said a ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need. WFP has said a third of Gaza’s population was not eating for days and nearly half a million were enduring famine-like conditions.

Antoine Renard, WFP’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territories, said about 80 of his agency’s trucks entered Gaza, while more than 130 other trucks arrived via Jordan, Egypt and Ashdod, Israel, and other aid was moving through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.

He emphasized it was not enough to counter the “current starvation.”

Gaza saw 63 malnutrition-related deaths in July, including 24 children under 5, the World Health Organization said.

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 after an increase in hunger-related deaths.

“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.”

Questions over ceasefire talks

Ceasefire efforts 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 talks.

Israel says it is prepared to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something the group has refused.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi said Israel’s change of tack on the humanitarian crisis amounted to an acknowledgment that there were starving Palestinians in Gaza, and asserted that the move was meant to improve its international standing and not save lives.

Troubles with aid delivery

After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies to Gaza for two and a half months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Fifty of them remain in Gaza, and more than half are believed to be dead.

Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the United Nations and others to distribute aid. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed. The U.N. says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from 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 sites, the U.N. human rights office says.

Israel has railed against the U.N. throughout the war, saying 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.

“Gaza is not a remote island. The infrastructure and resources exist to prevent starvation; we just need safe, sustained access,” Mercy Corps’ vice president of global policy and advocacy, Kate Phillips-Barrasso, said in a statement.

Killed while seeking aid

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 Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site in central Gaza.

Israel’s military said it fired warning shots to prevent a “gathering of suspects” from approaching hundreds of yards from the site before opening hours. The foundation said there were no incidents at or near its sites.

Thirteen other people were killed seeking aid in other areas of Gaza, including northwestern Gaza City, where more than 50 people were wounded, hospital officials and medics said.

Israel’s military announced that two more soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 898 since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war. Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that attack, and took 251 hostages.

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 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.

President Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza “terrible.”

Shurafa, Goldenberg and Magdy write for the Associated Press and reported from Deir al Balah, Tel Aviv and Cairo, respectively.