Israel Says It Has Paused Some Military Activity in Gaza as Anger Grows Over Hunger – The New York Times
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Israel allows more Gaza aid amid outcry over growing hunger
Israel rolls back curbs on aid distribution to Gaza over the weekend in an effort to defuse a growing international outcry over hunger. The UN World Food Program has warned for weeks that the entire population of 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip faces crisis levels of food insecurity. Scores of aid groups say starvation is fast spreading. Israel has now begun parachuting in food supplies, a delivery mechanism tried by several foreign air forces a year ago but abandoned, at the time, amid concerns about scale and safety. It marked a de facto reversal of Israel’s cut-off of UN-led humanitarian relief in March after the previous Gaza ceasefire expired, a tactic Netanyahu aides had said would deprive Hamas of a means of controlling the populace while feeding its own fighters. The proposed truce would have returned half of them in exchange for hundreds of jailed Palestinians, and boosted aid for Gaza, over a period of 60 days. It also would have required Israel to commit to ending the war and fully withdrawing, Hamas said.
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday suspended some military operations against Hamas to facilitate the movement of UN relief convoys, and restored electricity supplies to a desalination plant in Gaza for the first time since March.
Israel rolled back curbs on aid distribution to Gaza over the weekend in an effort to defuse a growing international outcry over hunger convulsing the shattered Palestinian enclave.
That’s seen world anger toward Israel’s government on the rise amid increasing reports and images of emaciated babies, children crammed into soup queues, and men tussling over bags of flour.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing “deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza” and urging “further substantial steps,” according to a readout from his office.
While continuing to deny accusations that it’s deliberately starving Gazans, Israel has now begun parachuting in food supplies. That’s a delivery mechanism tried by several foreign air forces a year ago but abandoned, at the time, amid concerns about scale and safety.
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“There’s a campaign full of lies under way” that’s created “a mistaken impression of famine in Gaza,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM. “Therefore the cabinet decided yesterday to bring in aid, in order to show the world that we are heeding the claims, even if we disagree about the facts.”
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Gaza on Sunday, July 27. BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images
Sunday’s decision was announced by the military without comment from Netanyahu or Defense Minister Israel Katz. It marked a de facto reversal of Israel’s cut-off of UN-led humanitarian relief in March after the previous Gaza ceasefire expired, a tactic Netanyahu aides had said would deprive Hamas of a means of controlling the populace while feeding its own fighters.
Mahmoud Mardawi, a senior Hamas official, described the about-face on Telegram as “not a solution, but rather, a belated and twisted confession of a crime having been committed.”
Negotiations in Doha on a new truce faltered last week, with Israel and the US accusing Hamas of stonewalling and hinting that a further escalation in the more than 21-month-old war could follow.
“I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad,” US President Donald Trump said of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamist fighters on Friday. “It got to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job.”
Eli Cohen, a minister in Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said plans for the next stage of the war had been approved. Interviewed on Israel’s Army Radio, he gave no details. He did, however, reiterate that Israel doesn’t consider Hamas leaders abroad to have “immunity” from its attacks.
Israeli troops and tanks have already overrun 75% of the Gaza Strip, skirting areas where Hamas is believed to be holding 50 hostages. The proposed truce would have returned half of them in exchange for hundreds of jailed Palestinians, and boosted aid for Gaza, over a period of 60 days.
Recovering the remaining hostages, however, would have required Israel commit to ending the war and fully withdrawing, Hamas said. Israel has ruled that out so long as Hamas, which is on terrorism blacklists in much of the West, retains weaponry and rules in Gaza.
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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition government, said he was excluded from the decision to restore UN aid. His ideological kinsman, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also opposes pausing the assault on Hamas and wants a total Gaza takeover — even if that poses a risk to the 20 hostages believed to be still alive.
Humanitarian aid was airdropped to Palestinians in Gaza City on Sunday, July 27. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press
Netanyahu on Friday said Israel and the US were “considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.” That followed a threat by Katz that the “gates of hell will open” if Hamas didn’t free the hostages soon.
Asked on 103 FM if Israel what such statements might presage, Danon said: “I’m not aware of any inventions that haven’t already been tried.”
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel launched the offensive in retaliation for a Hamas cross-border raid on Oct. 7, 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. It has lost 455 soldiers in Gaza combat, including three over the weekend.
Aid convoys from Jordan and Egypt rolled into Gaza on Sunday. The Israeli military said “humanitarian corridors,” around which it would hold fire, were being established in coordination with the UN for deliveries to areas where ground forces aren’t active. Construction of a UAE-initiated water pipeline from Egypt to Gaza would commence in the coming days, it added.
When it sidelined the UN relief network earlier in the year, Israel set up a US-backed alternative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with the aim of excluding Hamas.
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The foundation says it’s distributed enough food staples for more than 90 million meals, yet has acknowledged not being able to reach all of Gaza’s population. It’s also been dogged by allegations that hundreds of Palestinians aid-seekers have been shot dead near its distribution points — incidents for which the GHF and IDF have denied responsibility.
Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, told Al Araby TV on Saturday that as part of the truce talks, Israel had agreed to disband the GHF. Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied that.
With assistance from Fadwa Hodali and Alexander Weber.
Israel Says It Has Paused Some Military Activity in Gaza as Anger Grows Over Hunger
The decision was a sharp reversal by Israel and followed growing international pressure. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates began parachuting aid into Gaza in coordination with Israel. Nearly one in three people has not been eating “for multiple days in a row,” the U.N. World Food Program says.
The decision was a sharp reversal by Israel and followed growing international pressure over the dire conditions in Gaza, where nearly one in three people has not been eating “for multiple days in a row,” the U.N. World Food Program says.
As part of the measures announced on Sunday Israeli forces will pause operations in at least three parts of Gaza from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to allow aid to flow in, the Israeli military said in a statement. They will also designate permanent routes for U.N. convoys to deliver aid, it added.
The announcement came as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates began parachuting aid into Gaza in coordination with Israel, according to the Israeli defense ministry and Jordanian state media. Israel said on Friday that it would allow foreign countries to do so.
Israel Declares ‘Tactical Pause’ In Parts Of Gaza As International Unease Over Hunger Grows
Israel has announced it will be enforcing a ‘tactical pause’ in its military operation in three parts of Gaza. The military claimed it will now stop fighting in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Musawi between 10am to 8pm every day, from Sunday onwards. It promised to set up secure routes to help aid agencies deliver food, too. But aid agency leaders have called the air drops a “grotesque distraction” because it will never “deliver the volume or quality” of aid required. Israel has faced heightened international backlash over its offensive ever since it imposed a complete blockade on all aid going into Gaza back on March 2.
Israel has announced it will be enforcing a “tactical pause” in its military operation in three parts of Gaza.
Israel also declared on Saturday it would allow airdrops of aid into the Palestinian territory, following a global outcry over Gaza’s rising hunger levels.
The UN says a quarter of the population are facing famine-like conditions.
But the military has insisted its mission to flush out the Hamas militants will be ongoing.
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However, aid agency leaders have called the air drops a “grotesque distraction” because it will never “deliver the volume or quality” of aid required.
Israel has faced heightened international backlash over its offensive ever since it imposed a complete blockade on all aid going into Gaza back on March 2, only allowing a fraction of relief to enter the beleaguered area in late May.
Its military claimed it will now stop fighting in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Musawi between 10am to 8pm every day, from Sunday onwards.
It promised to set up secure routes to help aid agencies deliver food, too.
The surprise move comes days after French president Emmanuel Macron announced France would be officially recognising the Palestine state in the autumn.
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While he failed to persuade allies UK prime minister Keir Starmer and German chancellor Friedrich Merz to follow suit, the three did release a joint statement condemning the malnutrition seen in Gaza on Friday as they pile the pressure on Israel.
“The time has come to end the war in Gaza,” they said, noting that the “most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be met without any further delay.”
The leaders urged Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid.”
Starmer also announced Britain would be evacuating critically ill children from Gaza on Saturday.
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Writing in The Daily Mirror, he said: “I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation in Gaza are utterly horrifying.”
He added: “We are urgently accelerating efforts to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance – bringing more Palestinian children to the UK for specialist medical treatment.”
Starmer said Hamas must release the hostages still being held in Gaza, and called for a two-state solution to the conflict.
The World Food Programme also said in a new statement: “Nearly one person in three is not eating for days. Malnutrition is surging, with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment.”
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A group of 100 NGOs have warned that Palestinians are “wasting away” from mass starvation and collapsing on the street.
Related…
Israel lifts some Gaza aid curbs in bid to defuse hunger outcry
Israel rolls back curbs on aid distribution to Gaza over the weekend in an effort to defuse a growing international outcry over the hunger crisis. The Israel Defence Forces on Sunday suspended some military operations against Hamas to facilitate the movement of UN relief convoys. It also restored electricity supplies to a desalination plant in Gaza for the first time since March. The UN World Food Programme has warned for weeks that the entire population of 2.1 million people in Gaza faces crisis levels of food insecurity. Israel has now began parachuting in food supplies. That’s a delivery mechanism previously tried by several foreign air forces a year ago, but which was abandoned at the time amid concerns about scale and safety. The proposed truce would have seen half of the hostages returned, in exchange for hundreds of jailed Palestinians, and boosted aid for Gaza, over a period of 60 days. But Israel has ruled that out so long as Hamas, which is on terrorism blacklists in much of the West, retains weaponry and rules in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces on Sunday suspended some military operations against Hamas to facilitate the movement of UN relief convoys, and restored electricity supplies to a desalination plant in Gaza for the first time since March.
The UN World Food Programme has warned for weeks that the entire population of 2.1 million people in Gaza faces crisis levels of food insecurity, while scores of aid groups say starvation is now spreading quickly.
That’s seen world anger toward Israel’s government on the rise amid increasing reports and images of emaciated babies, children crammed into soup queues, and men tussling over bags of flour.
While continuing to deny accusations that it’s deliberately starving Gazans, Israel has now began parachuting in food supplies. That’s a delivery mechanism previously tried by several foreign air forces a year ago, but which was abandoned at the time amid concerns about scale and safety.
“There’s a campaign full of lies under way” that’s created “a mistaken impression of famine in Gaza,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM. “Therefore the cabinet decided yesterday to bring in aid, in order to show the world that we are heeding the claims, even if we disagree about the facts.”
U-turn
Sunday’s decision was announced by the military, without comment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Defence Minister Israel Katz.
It marked a de facto reversal of Israel’s cut-off of UN-led humanitarian relief in March after the previous Gaza ceasefire expired, a tactic Netanyahu aides said at the time would deprive Hamas of a means of controlling the populace while feeding its own fighters.
Mahmoud Mardawi, a senior Hamas official, described the about-face on Telegram as “not a solution, but rather, a belated and twisted confession of a crime having been committed” by Israel.
Negotiations on a new truce faltered last week, with Israel and the US accusing Hamas of stonewalling and hinting that a further escalation in the more than 21-month-old war could follow.
“I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad,” US President Donald Trump said of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamist fighters on Friday. “It got to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job.”
Israeli troops and tanks have already overrun 75% of the Gaza Strip, skirting areas where Hamas is believed to be holding 50 hostages captured in October 2023.
The proposed truce would have seen half of the hostages returned, in exchange for hundreds of jailed Palestinians, and boosted aid for Gaza, over a period of 60 days.
Israeli hostages
Recovering the remaining hostages, however, would have required Israel commit to ending the war, Hamas said. Israel has ruled that out so long as Hamas, which is on terrorism blacklists in much of the West, retains weaponry and rules in Gaza.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition government, said he was excluded from the decision to restore UN aid.
His ideological kinsman, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also opposes pausing the assault on Hamas and wants a total Gaza takeover – even if that poses a risk to the 20 hostages believed to be still alive.
Netanyahu on Friday said Israel and the US were “considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.” That followed a threat by Katz that the “gates of hell will open” if Hamas didn’t free the hostages soon.
Asked on 103 FM if Israel should declare its willingness to end the war in return of all of the hostages, Danon said such a move would require changing the war goals.
“The objectives right now, I’d remind you, are to recover the hostages and remove Hamas rule and strike at its capabilities,” he said. “And the government has to decide whether it’s deeming that this has or has not been achieved.”
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel launched the offensive in retaliation for a Hamas cross-border raid on 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. It has lost 455 soldiers in Gaza combat, including three over the weekend.
Aid trucks roll
Aid convoys from Jordan and Egypt rolled into Gaza on Sunday. The Israeli military said “humanitarian corridors,” around which it would hold fire, were being established in coordination with the UN for deliveries to areas where ground forces aren’t active.
When it sidelined the UN relief network earlier in the year, Israel set up a US-backed alternative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with the aim of excluding Hamas.
The foundation says it’s distributed enough food staples for more than 90 million meals, yet has acknowledged not being able to reach all of Gaza’s population.
It’s also been dogged by allegations that hundreds of Palestinians aid-seekers have been shot dead near its distribution points – incidents for which the GHF and IDF have denied responsibility.
(With additional reporting by Fadwa Hodali)
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Kemi Badenoch: Pictures of starving children haven’t shifted my support for Israel
Kemi Badenoch said Israel was ‘trying to defend itself’ during Sky News interview. Comments come amid widespread international condemnation of Israel for blocking aid from entering the besieged Palestinian territory. Israel has said it had allowed aid packages to be dropped into the territory from the air, which has been criticised by humanitarian agencies. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray said: “I absolutely accept and recognise that there are real limits and drawbacks with airdrops when it comes to aid”
Asked about Israel’s engineered famine in [[Gaza]], Badenoch claimed that Israel was “trying to defend itself” during an interview with Sky News on Sunday.
Her comments come amid widespread international condemnation of Israel for blocking aid from entering the besieged Palestinian territory, which has resulted in children starving to death.
READ MORE: Pressure grows for Keir Starmer as SNP threaten to force Palestine recognition vote
Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show, Badenoch said: “War is a difficult situation and what I see when I see Israel is a country that is trying to defend itself, mostly from Iran and a lot of its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis. I think they are in a very difficult situation.
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(Image: .)
“What worries me is that the length of time that this war has been going on is making it very difficult for the people in the Palestinian territories and also for Israel.
“We need to bring things to an end.”
Her comments came as Israel announced a “tactical pause” in its assault on Gaza to allow humanitarian aid into the territory beginning on Sunday.
Israel has said it had allowed aid packages to be dropped into the territory from the air, which has been criticised by humanitarian agencies.
Ciaran Donnelly of the International Rescue Committee said last week: “Aid drops are a grotesque distraction from the reality of what’s needed on the ground in Gaza right now. They can never deliver the volume, the consistency or the quality of aid and services that’s needed.”
READ MORE: Keir Starmer fiercely criticised over Gaza speech
Asked about the policy on Sky News on Sunday, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray said: “I absolutely accept and recognise that there are real limits and drawbacks with airdrops when it comes to aid, but I also think that until the restrictions are lifted, until aid is able to get in at the scale and quantity that is needed, we need to be doing everything we possibly can to help.”
Keir Starmer is expected to press the case for a ceasefire when he meets US president Donald Trump in Scotland later on Sunday.