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Israel announces a “tactical pause in military activity” in parts of Gaza
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The move comes after saying it delivered an aid air drop into Gaza on Saturday night, consisting of “seven packages of aid”
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Israel has been facing mounting pressure from Western governments, with aid agencies warning that mass starvation is taking hold in Gaza
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Aid agencies previously criticised Israel’s air drop plan, saying the quantity would be insufficient, while Gazans fear the method could be unsafe
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At least 127 people have died from malnutrition since the war began, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says
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The IDF says the air drop is part of a “series of actions” – including the creation of humanitarian corridors for UN convoys – to “refute the false claim on intentional starvation”
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Aid agencies say safe passage is essential for distributing helppublished at 08:46
Emir Nader
Reporting from Jerusalem
Image source,ReutersIsrael 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.
People mourn at a funeral of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid and others who were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Saturday.Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
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.
Source:CNN and BBC