Israel has announced a daily “tactical suspension in military operations” in three regions of Gaza, allowing people to reach out to more aid amid increasing international outrage over territorial hunger.
Israeli military said the move “refutes false claims of intentional starvation in the Gaza Strip.”
The suspension will also see the military opening corridors to promote the provision of aid by the United Nations and other agencies, but Gaza officials have reported deaths from malnutrition and desperately trying to get assistance from convoys and distribution sites.
And while “tactical suspensions” are welcomed by UN agencies, there are doubts as to whether aid will be sufficient a few months after reaching too little aid. This is what we know.
Gaza has been facing a humanitarian crisis for a long time.
The nearly two years of war following the attack on Hamas on October 7th saw the majority of Gaza’s population be exiled multiple times. They live in tens of thousands of streets and makeshift tents. With the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, access to water and electricity has become even more difficult.
In particular, the provision of humanitarian food aid was interrupted by combat and difficulties due to difficulties in the distribution of aid, restrictions ordered by Israeli forces.
Before the conflict, around 3,000 aid and commercial trucks enter Gaza every week. The numbers then fell sharply.
An average of hundreds of trucks crossed each day during the ceasefire earlier this year. But that didn’t last.
Things got dramatically worse in early March, when Israel imposed a complete lockdown on Gaza to force Hamas to release hostages that were still holding.
Hunger was already spreading in Gaza and grew over the next few months. Bakeries and community kitchens were closed, and market prices have skyrocketed well beyond what most Gazans could afford. The United Nations warned that malnutrition was on the rise, with around 6,000 aid trucks sitting at the border.
The lockdown was partially lifted at the end of May, and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened a food distribution site in southern Gaza, a private venture backed by the US and Israel. However, the United Nations and others have criticised the GHF for violating basic humanitarian principles and failing to meet the needs of Gaza people. The GHF said it has disseminated more than 90 million meals and blamed them for not coordinating with the United Nations.
More than 1,000 people have been killed since May, in desperate efforts to get food for their families, according to the United Nations.
In May, the United Nations reported that the entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with 500,000 people facing starvation and more than 70,000 children being set to require treatment for acute malnutrition.
To date, 133 people have died of malnutrition in Gaza since the conflict began, Palestinian health officials say nearly 90 of them. Most of these deaths have occurred since March.
Images of children dying from acute malnutrition sparked global rage last week, when the UK, France and Germany cited the crisis as “artificial and avoidable.”
The tactical suspension announced by Israeli forces covers three regions along the Mediterranean coast (Almawasi, Dei Al Albara and parts of Gaza city). The Israeli forces have published a map showing areas where suspensions are enabled, but have marked the rest of the strip as “dangerous combat zones.”
The suspension begins on Sunday and lasts for 10 hours from 10am to 8pm local time. The military said it will continue every day “until further notice.”
An important aspect of Israel’s announcement is that designated “safe routes” will be established from 6am to 11pm local time, allowing convoys of UN and humanitarian organisations to safely distribute food and medicine. Hundreds of trucks have been plundered in recent months by often desperate people, but sometimes plundered by criminalists, and getting the safe aid to Gaza warehouses becomes a major challenge.
Israel has previously announced that it will implement air intakes to help Gaza on Saturday night, allowing foreigners to carry out operations. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates ran one on Sunday.
However, airdrops are considered expensive, inefficient and sometimes dangerous by aid agencies. UNICEF spokesman Joe English said on CNN Sunday:
The IDF said it connected Israeli power lines to a desalination plant in Gaza. Gaza supplies approximately 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.
Trucks, including Egyptian and Jordanian convoys, began rolling towards Gaza. However, the amount of aid needed is enormous.
Thousands of trucks are ready to enter Gaza with food and medical supplies, but the main intersection of Kelem Shalom is already choking with the aid of trucks waiting to be distributed. In Gaza, there are only two intersections of Kelem Shalom and Jikim in the north.
The UN agency says the lack of security and permission from Israeli forces is frequently maintained.
A UNICEF spokesman told CNN that the agency “cannot make miracles” in the last minute window to get help in Gaza, as malnourished children need sustained care.
The World Food Program welcomes the Israeli announcement and says there is enough food to feed the entire population of 2.1 million or on the way for almost three months. It said it was guaranteed to be granted faster clearance by Israel to allow for a surge in food aid.
The decision that allows aid to be spread has already been challenged within the Israeli government coalition.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamall Ben Gwil said he was not consulted, “The only way to win the war and regain the hostages is to completely stop the aid of “humanitarians” and conquer the entire strip and encourage voluntary migration.”
The Hostage Families Forum said the tactical suspension should be part of a broader agreement to ensure hostage return. “This is what a failure of a partial trading strategy looks like,” he said, “is lured to the government and demanding that a comprehensive agreement be reached to end the fight.
