Israel military announces ‘tactical pause’ in three areas of Gaza<\/p>\n
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military says it will begin a \u201ctactical pause\u201d in fighting in three areas of Gaza as part of steps to address a worsening humanitarian situation.<\/p>\n
The military said it would halt activity in Muwasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10am to 8pm local time every day until further notice, beginning on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The military said it was not operating in those areas but there had been fighting and strikes in each in recent weeks. In a statement, the military said it would also designate secure routes to help aid agencies deliver food and other supplies to people across Gaza.<\/p>\n
The announcement that the military would pause some fighting comes after months of experts\u2019 warnings of famine<\/a> amid Israeli restrictions on aid.<\/p>\n International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as many Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach food distribution sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has also announced that \u201cdesignated humanitarian corridors\u201d are being established for UN convoys to \u201crefute the false claim on intentional starvation\u201d.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring you updates on this story and other Middle East news throughout the day.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.18 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n ‘My life\u2019s wish is to eat a loaf of bread,’ Palestinian woman says amid widespread starvation<\/p>\n In the Tel al-Hawa district of Gaza<\/a> City, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said she hoped aid trucks would now be able to reach her family\u2019s tent encampment.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life\u2019s wish has become to eat a loaf of bread and to be able to provide bread for my children to eat,\u201d she told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.<\/p>\n Ishtaywi says her husband comes back daily from fruitless trips to aid distribution points.<\/p>\n Also in Gaza City, 44-year-old Mohammed al-Daduh, said: \u201cWe hope the aid comes in today, because hunger is killing us day by day. Egypt said it would send aid, but we don\u2019t know if Israel<\/a> will allow it in.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.12 EDT<\/p>\n Jordan\u2019s security agency has posted a video on X<\/a> apparently showing some aid-loaded trucks moving along a road towards Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cHappening now, huge Jordanian relief convoys are moving towards Gaza<\/a>,\u201d the public security directorate wrote on X.<\/p>\n As we mentioned in an earlier post<\/a>, Egyptian state-linked media reported this morning that aid trucks had begun entering the Gaza Strip as Israel announced a \u201ctactical pause\u201d in parts of the devastated territory to allow deliveries.<\/p>\n One-and-a-half-year-old Muhammed Zakariya Ayyub al-Matouk is among thousands of children suffering from hunger and malnutrition in Gaza. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The pause \u2013 which could last hours, or days – comes amid mounting international pressure over the starvation and widespread malnutrition in Gaza caused by the restriction of aid into the territory by Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n There was also growing condemnation of the number of desperate Palestinian people being killed near aid distribution points while waiting to collect the tiny amount of food that has been allowed into Gaza.<\/p>\n The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May \u2013 in effect sidelining the existing UN-led system.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.46 EDT<\/p>\n More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and the entire population is at risk of famine<\/a>, according to food security experts.<\/p>\n Israel imposed a total aid blockade for 11 weeks starting in March (ostensibly to put pressure on Hamas to release hostages), and the trickle of food, fuel and medical supplies allowed in since May has not relieved extreme hunger.<\/p>\n Israel has been widely accused of using food as a political weapon and of flagrantly breaking international law by collectively punishing the civilian population by its aid blockade.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.32 EDT<\/p>\n Egyptian aid trucks entering Gaza, state-linked media says<\/p>\n Egyptian state-linked media on Sunday reported that aid trucks had begun entering the Gaza Strip as Israel<\/a> announced a \u201ctactical pause\u201d in parts of the devastated territory to allow deliveries.<\/p>\n \u201cEgyptian aid trucks begin to enter the Gaza<\/a> Strip through the Rafah crossing,\u201d Al-Qahera News posted on X, alongside footage of aid convoys moving in the border area.<\/p>\n Trucks carrying aid enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Sunday in Rafah, Egypt. Photograph: Ali Moustafa\/Getty ImagesA trucks heads through the Rafah border towards Gaza. Photograph: Ali Moustafa\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.54 EDT<\/p>\n Will Israel\u2019s shift on aid be enough to ease hunger?<\/p>\n In a statement, the Israeli army said it coordinated its decisions with the UN and international organisations to \u201cincrease the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza<\/a> Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n There was no immediate official response from the UN or non-governmental aid agencies operating in Gaza.<\/p>\n Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that air drops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza\u2019s more than two million inhabitants.<\/p>\n But the British prime minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart air drops. The United Arab Emirates said it would resume air drops \u201cimmediately\u201d.<\/p>\n A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.<\/p>\n \u201cAir drops will not reverse the deepening starvation,\u201d said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. \u201cThey are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into Gaza, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting aid once it is inside the territory.<\/p>\n But humanitarian organisations accuse the army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.53 EDT<\/p>\n Australian prime minister accuses Israel<\/a> of \u2018clearly\u2019 breaching international law<\/p>\n The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese says, has accused Israel of a breach of international law in blocking aid into Gaza<\/a>, saying \u201cyou can\u2019t hold innocent people responsible\u201d for the actions of Hamas, and warning that Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government is \u201closing support\u201d internationally.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite clearly it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered which was a decision that Israel made in March,\u201d Albanese told the ABC\u2019s Insiders program on Sunday.<\/p>\n But Albanese says Australia has no plans to imminently recognise a Palestinian state, Anthony Albanese says, cautioning further steps must be met for a two-state solution despite growing pressure inside his Labor party <\/a>for the government to follow through on its long-held commitment.<\/p>\n Read the full story:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Israel military says it carried out an aid airdrop in Gaza<\/p>\n The Israeli military also said Sunday that it had carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food.<\/p>\n Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel<\/a> has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule.<\/p>\n Images emerging from Gaza<\/a> in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned.<\/p>\n On Telegram, the Israeli military announced it \u201ccarried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n The military said these humanitarian steps were being allowed alongside its offensive against Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza.<\/p>\n Israel has faced growing international condemnation over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza, after imposing a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume.<\/p>\n The decision to loosen the flow of aid came as the Palestinian civil defence agency said more than 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.<\/p>\n Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City on Saturday. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.28 EDT<\/p>\n Israel intercepts boat carrying activists trying to deliver aid to Gaza<\/p>\n A boat carrying activists and journalists has been intercepted by Israeli troops<\/a> while attempting to transport aid to Gaza on Saturday, with a pro-Palestinian group claiming the crew have been subjected to \u201cunlawful\u201d detention.<\/p>\n The Handala, led by the activist group the Freedom Flotilla Coalition<\/a>, was roughly 50km from the Egyptian coast and 100km west of Gaza when intercepted, an online tracking tool<\/a> set up to plot the ship\u2019s course showed.<\/p>\n In a post on X<\/a>, the Israeli foreign ministry said its navy had stopped the boat from \u201cillegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel<\/a>. All passengers are safe,\u201d the post read. \u201cUnauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n Two Australians including journalist Tania \u201cTan\u201d Safi and human rights activist Robert Martin were among 21 activists on board the ship, the group said in a statement<\/a>, as well as two Al Jazeera reporters and French politicians Emma Fourreau and Gabrielle Cathala.<\/p>\n The Handala departed from the Port of Gallipoli in Italy on 20 July. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.57 EDT<\/p>\n Israel military announces ‘tactical pause’ in three areas of Gaza<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n The Israeli military says it will begin a \u201ctactical pause\u201d in fighting in three areas of Gaza as part of steps to address a worsening humanitarian situation.<\/p>\n The military said it would halt activity in Muwasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10am to 8pm local time every day until further notice, beginning on Sunday.<\/p>\n The military said it was not operating in those areas but there had been fighting and strikes in each in recent weeks. In a statement, the military said it would also designate secure routes to help aid agencies deliver food and other supplies to people across Gaza.<\/p>\n The announcement that the military would pause some fighting comes after months of experts\u2019 warnings of famine<\/a> amid Israeli restrictions on aid.<\/p>\n International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as many Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach food distribution sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has also announced that \u201cdesignated humanitarian corridors\u201d are being established for UN convoys to \u201crefute the false claim on intentional starvation\u201d.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring you updates on this story and other Middle East news throughout the day.<\/p>\n