Palestinian children wait in line with their utensils as Human Rights, Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) distributes hot meals in Jabalia refugee camp as Israeli attacks continue on the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2024.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Sunday announced a “tactical pause” in its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip to allow the delivery of increasing amounts of humanitarian aid.
The army said that the truce will begin in the Rafah area at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. Eastern) and will remain in effect until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon Eastern). She added that the suspensions will occur daily until further notice.
This stop is intended to allow aid trucks to reach the nearby Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid, and travel safely to the Salah al-Din Highway, a main road linking north and south, to deliver supplies to other areas. The army said in parts of Gaza. She added that the ceasefire is taking place in coordination with the United Nations and international relief agencies.
The crossing has been suffering from congestion since Israeli ground forces penetrated Rafah in early May.
The eight-month-long Israeli military offensive against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations reporting widespread famine and hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation. The international community urged Israel to make more efforts to alleviate the crisis.
From May 6 to June 6, the United Nations received an average of 68 aid trucks per day, according to figures from the United Nations Humanitarian Office, known as OCHA. This is down from 168 trucks per day in April and well below the 500 trucks per day that aid groups say is needed.
Aid flows have decreased in southern Gaza as humanitarian needs have increased. More than a million Palestinians, many of them already displaced, fled Rafah after the invasion, congregating in other parts of southern and central Gaza. Most now live in dilapidated camps that use trenches as latrines, and sewage runs through the streets.
The Coordination Committee for Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, says there are no restrictions on the entry of trucks. It says that more than 8,600 trucks of all types, whether aid or commercial, entered Gaza from all crossings in the period from May 2 to June 13, at a rate of 201 trucks per day. But much of this aid accumulated at the crossings and did not reach its final destination.
Children gather with utensils to receive food aid from a kitchen in Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territories between Israel and Hamas.
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Shimon Friedman, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said that the United Nations' fault was the accumulation of its shipments at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza. He said the agencies have “fundamental unresolved logistical problems,” especially a shortage of trucks.
The United Nations denies such accusations. She says fighting between Israel and Hamas often makes it too dangerous for UN trucks inside Gaza to travel to Kerem Shalom, which is right next to the Israeli border.
It also says the pace of deliveries has slowed because the Israeli military must allow drivers to travel to the site, a system Israel says is designed for driver safety. Due to insecurity, aid trucks were in some cases looted by crowds while moving on Gaza roads.
The new arrangement aims to reduce the need to coordinate deliveries by providing a continuous 11-hour daily window for trucks to enter and exit the crossing.
It was not immediately clear whether the army would provide security to protect aid trucks as they moved on the highway.
