Israel announces ‘tactical pause’ to fighting in parts of Gaza and says it will open aid corridors

Image source,Reuters

This tactical pause in fighting has been welcomed by people on the ground who see it as step in the right direction.

We expect 180 trucks to come in from Egypt and 60 trucks from Jordan.

Last night, we saw an air drop of parcels onto the north west Gaza, and it was a very chaotic situation as desperate people fought each other to get food.

But the issue is not just about food shortages but about the food quality.

Only flour and canned food have been allowed in.

People were hoping to get fresh vegetables and fruit, and they haven’t eaten protein for weeks.

I have spoken to my family in Gaza and other people there who say they have only eaten carbohydrates for about four months now.

People want this humanitarian crisis to end.

We can now bring you some of the first images of trucks carrying aid entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing in Rafah, Egypt.

Image source,Getty Images

Image source,Getty Images

Image source,Getty Images

Jordan’s security agency has posted a video on social media, external, purportedly showing a line of aid-loaded trucks moving along the road.

“Happening now, huge Jordanian relief convoys are moving towards Gaza,” the Public Security Directorate says on X.

Earlier, Egypt’s al-Qahera News also reported that aid lorries have now started moving towards the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

Israel’s announcement of a “tactical pause” in military operations in parts of Gaza today is a significant development – but it’s not unprecedented.

Earlier in the war, the Israeli military regularly announced “tactical pauses” in specific areas. These usually lasted hours, not days, and were often put in place to allow UN humanitarian operations.

For example, in November 2024, during a mass polio vaccination campaign, the Israeli military said it carried out “tactical humanitarian pauses in order to facilitate the distribution of the vaccines”.

And in June 2024, Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said they allowed a “tactical pause to make sure that the international organisations will understand we are creating a safe pathway” for aid to enter Gaza.

Image source,Getty Images

The UN’s food programme warned last week that almost one in three people in the Gaza Strip are going for days without eating.

“Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement.

Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said “more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger”.

Harrowing pictures of children suffering from severe malnutrition have been emerging from the territory.

Israel has said there is no restriction on aid getting into Gaza and pointed to stocks inside Gaza which have not been distributed. Its government spokesman, David Mencer, last week blamed Hamas for “engineering” a famine in Gaza.

Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source,Reuters

Israel denies there’s a hunger crisis in Gaza and says it wants to refute the claim it is deliberately starving Palestinians.

The Israeli military says its planes dropped seven packages of aid into Gaza early this morning, containing flour, sugar and canned food.

Air drops are a spectacle – and critics warn they’re done more to ease political pressure on Israel than relieve the hunger of Gaza’s two million Palestinians.

More significantly, Israel says it will implement humanitarian corridors to enable the safe movement of UN convoys in Gaza.

International aid agencies have repeatedly said safe passage is essential and their ability to distribute aid is endangered by Israeli troops attacking convoys and the civilians who crowd around them.

They also say that only a huge increase in aid entering by land will avert mass starvation in Gaza.

Over the last few minutes we’ve heard from the Israeli military that there will be “a local tactical pause in military activity” in three areas of Gaza.

The move comes as concerns are growing over the humanitarian situation facing Palestinians in the Strip.

The Hamas-run health ministry has said five more deaths were recorded in Gaza due to malnutrition on Friday – bringing the total number of people who have died from a lack of food to 127.

Two thirds of them are children, the ministry added.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini has described this hunger crisis as “manmade”. He also criticised air drops of aid as expensive and inefficient.

Image source,Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has just issued a statement, saying that “a local tactical pause in military activity will take place for humanitarian purposes from 10:00 to 20:00 (07:00-17:00 GMT), starting today (Sunday)” in the Gaza Strip.

It says “the pause will begin in the areas where the IDF is not operating: al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City, every day until further notice.

“This decision was co-ordinated with the UN and international organisations following discussions regarding the matter.

“In addition, designated secure routes will be in place permanently from 06:00 to 23:00 to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip.”

The IDF adds that it “will continue to support humanitarian efforts alongside ongoing manoeuvring and offensive operations against terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect Israeli civilians.”

The IDF adds that it is prepared to expand the scale of this activity as required.

Image source,Reuters

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said last week that the UK was working with Jordan on plans to drop aid into Gaza by air.

That came after more than a third of MPs signed a letter calling on the government to recognise a Palestinian state.

A small team of British military planners and logisticians was being made available to help Jordan get aid into the territory, as we’ve reported.

Before the air drops were resumed, Palestinians had been relying on food aid distributed by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Earlier, BBC Verify has examined these GHF food boxes:

The GHF has said these boxes also contain some ready-to-eat food, like halva bars – a popular snack made from blending tahini or sesame paste and sugar. It occasionally includes substitute items like tea, biscuits, and chocolate, and is also delivering potatoes and onions.

Aid experts, however, have raised concerns about their nutritional value, as they were deficient in calcium, iron, zinc, and some vitamins.

You can read the full BBC Verify report here.

As we have just reported, the pro-Palestinian group Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says Israeli troops have boarded a boat that was trying to bring food aid to the Gaza Strip by sea.

It says the Handala vessel was intercepted in international waters.

Video footage purportedly shows activists on board with their hands up as several armed soldiers took control of the vessel.

The Israeli foreign ministry says the country’s navy stopped the boat “from illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza” and breaking the blockade there.

It adds that the ship “is safely making its way to the shores of Israel” and that “all passengers are safe”.

The FFC says Handala’s crew of 19 activists and two journalists from various countries – including Australia, France, the UK and the US – had been “kidnapped” by Israeli soldiers.

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Egypt’s al-Qahera News website is reporting that aid lorries have now started moving towards the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

The media outlet published a photo showing a long line of open-top lorries loaded with what appears to be packages of humanitarian aid.

Egyptian officials are yet to publicly comment on the issue.

Earlier, Israel said it was prepared to open humanitarian corridors to allow UN convoys into Gaza.

Image source,Getty Images

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says it will resume air drops of aid into Gaza immediately – after Israel said it would allow foreign countries to drop supplies into the Strip.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” UAE’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X.

“The United Arab Emirates remains at the forefront of efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to the Palestinian people.

“We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea. Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”

Aid agencies criticised air drops into Gaza as ‘grotesque distraction’published at 06:18

World news correspondent

Before Israel resumed aid air drops to Gaza, I spoke to some of the world’s biggest and most respected aid agencies to get their perspective.

Between the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) there was near unanimity.

“In a case where we are facing widespread starvation, any amount of food is better than none,” said Shaina Low of the NRC. “But the amount of aid that can come through air drops is just a fraction of what can be delivered through trucks through the land crossings.”

Ciarán Donnelly of the IRC is stronger in his message: “Aid drops are a grotesque distraction from the reality of what’s needed on the ground in Gaza right now. They can never deliver the volume, the consistency or the quality of aid and services that’s needed.”

“At the same time, it doesn’t allow us to distribute aid in the most effective way, as you don’t know who will get it,” Nebal Farsakh from the IFRC says.

That seems to be the primary objection. Air drops are just not able to meet the vast – and growing – humanitarian needs on the ground in Gaza.

In a statement in the early hours of Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says “it recently carried out an air drop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip”.

It says the air drop “included seven packages of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food”.

The IDF says this was done “in co-ordination with international organisations and led by Cogat”, referring to the Israeli military body which oversees the entry of aid into Gaza.

The military has also posted a video purportedly showing a plane dropping the aid. The footage has not been independently verified.

Palestinian officials are yet to comment on the issue.

Israel says it has delivered an aid airdrop to Gaza on Saturday night, as the starvation crisis deepens.

The resumption of airdrops to the Strip, according to the IDF, is part of a “series of actions” to “improve the humanitarian response” in Gaza and to “refute the false claim on intentional starvation”.

This comes days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the Strip. The UN’s food aid agency has warned nearly one in three people in Gaza have not been eating for days at a time.

The Hamas-run health ministry says 127 people have died from malnutrition since the war began.

Western governments have ramped up the rhetoric on Israel – with leaders of the UK, France and Germany calling on Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” in a statement on Friday.

We will bring you all the updates on the latest situation.