The Israeli army announced Sunday that it is entering a daily, hours-long “tactical pause” in its operations along part of southern Gaza to allow for more aid deliveries, amid warnings that hunger and the risk of famine are increasing.
The pause in fighting will take place along a route in southern Gaza every day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., “until further notice,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The route runs from the main Kerem Shalom border crossing to Salah al-Din Road, the strip’s main highway, and then north towards the Khan Younis area.
The pause is intended to “increase the amount of humanitarian aid” entering the besieged Palestinian territory, the IDF said, adding that it was working with the UN and international aid agencies.
After eight months of fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas militants, the UN World Food Program (WFP) warns that people in the southern part of the Gaza Strip could soon suffer the same terrible levels of hunger as those in northern Gaza.
Carl Skau, deputy director of the agency, said on Friday that while progress was being made in the north, the situation in the south was deteriorating again.
“Now our concerns are really in the south, where the progress we have made is being reversed,” he said.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) said on Saturday that more than 50,000 children in Gaza needed treatment for acute malnutrition.
For months, Israel has concentrated its military offensive in and around the key southern city of Rafah, considered the last stronghold of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A map released by the IDF showed that the route covered by the daily “tactical pause” was south of the city.
Sunday’s announcement came a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in Rafah.
The Gaza war was sparked by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, with more than 1,200 deaths, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7 last year.
The Israeli military’s actions have been internationally criticized – especially its operations in Rafah, where many displaced Palestinians sought refuge from the war.
More than 37,000 people have been killed and more than 85,000 injured during Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The figures, which do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, also cannot be independently verified at this time.
