Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into the enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.
Israel has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
Military activity will stop from 10 am to 8 pm (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area along the coast, in central Deir Al Balah and in Gaza City, to the north.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tonnes of aid into the Gaza Strip on Sunday in their first airdrop in months, a Jordanian official source said.
The official said the air drops were not a substitute for delivery by land. Palestinian health officials in Gaza City said at least 10 people were injured by falling aid boxes.
The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 am and 11 pm starting from Sunday.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas.
“Our teams on the ground... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window,” he said on X.
Health officials at Al Awda and Al Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 waiting for aid trucks on Sunday.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the enclave.
The ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children.
On Saturday, a five-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers said.
“Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead,” said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, standing next to the baby’s father as he held their daughter’s body wrapped in a white shroud.
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