JERUSALEM/GAZA, July 27 — Israel has said it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world.
Military activity will cease from 10am to 8pm (0700 to 1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah, and in Gaza City, to the north.
The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm starting from Sunday.
United Nations (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 in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. 127 people have perished due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war.
On Saturday, five-month-old baby Zainab Abu Haleeb died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to health workers.
"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, which was wrapped in a white shroud.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said it would send more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.
Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people, and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
Last week, the UN said humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It claimed that it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.
On Friday, Israel and the United States appeared to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
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Palestinians gather as they wait for aid supplies to enter Gaza, in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestine, on July 27, 2025. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
Hope, uncertainty
Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently.
"People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza. We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up," said business owner Tamer Al-Burai.
Some others voiced concern about how aid will be delivered and whether it will reach people safely.
"Aid should enter in a logical way. When aid is airdropped, it causes injuries and damage," said displaced Gaza resident Suhaib Mohammed.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials.
In a statement, he said that 'this is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign', and repeated his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the entire territory, and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments.
After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The UN said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
— Reuters
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Palestinians carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestine, on July 27, 2025. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
