JERUSALEM (BN24) — Israel’s military announced Sunday it will implement daily 10-hour pauses in specific areas of Gaza to enable the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid, as images of emaciated Palestinians and rising child deaths from starvation prompt global alarm.
According to the Israeli army, military activity will halt daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time in several parts of the besieged enclave, including Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone along the coast, as well as central Deir al-Balah and northern Gaza City. The army also said new aid corridors and secure convoy routes will be opened from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., starting Sunday.
The announcement follows growing international pressure and deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where the Gaza Health Ministry says at least 127 people, including 85 children, have died of malnutrition since the start of the war. On Saturday, a five-month-old girl, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, her grieving parents said.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher confirmed humanitarian teams will intensify operations during the new daily pauses. “Our teams on the ground … will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window,” Fletcher said on X.
The Egyptian Red Crescent, meanwhile, announced the dispatch of over 100 aid trucks carrying 1,200 metric tons of food through the Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza. Israel has also resumed airdropping supplies in an attempt to ease deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Still, many aid groups say Gaza’s 2.2 million residents are experiencing widespread hunger and aid is not reaching those who need it most.
The United Nations has welcomed the temporary halts in fighting, calling them a necessary measure to “scale up humanitarian assistance,” but criticized Israel for not providing sufficient access routes for humanitarian convoys in previous weeks. The U.N. has said it is operating under severe logistical constraints due to Israeli restrictions.
Israel says it remains committed to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza but insists it must maintain strict controls to prevent supplies from being seized by Hamas militants. Israeli officials have repeatedly blamed Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s civilians, while arguing that enough food has been permitted into the territory.
Tensions within the Israeli government over the aid decision became public Sunday when far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned the move, which he claimed was made without his input. He called it a “capitulation to Hamas’ deceitful campaign” and renewed calls to cut off aid entirely, reoccupy the strip, and encourage Palestinians to leave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Ben-Gvir’s statement.
Reactions from inside Gaza were mixed, with some residents expressing cautious optimism while others voiced skepticism over the safety and fairness of aid distribution. “People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza,” said Tamer al-Burai, a local business owner. “We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up.” But displaced resident Suhaib Mohammed warned that airdropped aid had previously injured people and caused damage. “Aid should enter in a logical way,” he said.
Sunday’s announcement comes amid faltering ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. On Friday, Israel and the United States indicated that negotiations had broken down, accusing Hamas of not seeking a genuine agreement.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and taking 251 hostages. In the months since, Israel’s offensive has left nearly 60,000 people dead in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave, most of them civilians. Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and nearly the entire population has been displaced.
