Palestinian children wait in line with pots as the Foundation for Human Rights, Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) distributes hot meals in the Jabaliya refugee camp on June 13, 2024, as Israeli attacks on the northern Gaza Strip continue.
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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 for the delivery of larger quantities of humanitarian aid.
The suspension in the Rafah area will begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. ET) and last until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon ET), the military said. The company said it will be suspended daily until further notice.
The suspension is intended to allow aid trucks to reach the nearby Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for aid, and safely travel to the Saladin Highway, the main north-south highway, to deliver supplies to other areas. parts of Gaza, the military said. The statement said the suspension was being coordinated with the United Nations and international aid agencies.
The crossing has experienced bottlenecks since Israeli ground forces entered Rafah in early May.
Israel’s eight-month military offensive against the Hamas militant group has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations reporting widespread hunger and hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine. The international community has urged Israel to take more steps to ease the crisis.
According to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), from May 6 to June 6, the United Nations received an average of 68 truckloads of aid per day. That’s down from 168 trucks a day in April and well below the 500 trucks a day aid groups say are needed.
As humanitarian needs increase, aid flows to southern Gaza decrease. More than 1 million Palestinians fled Rafah after the invasion and poured into other areas of southern and central Gaza, many of whom have been displaced. Most now languish in ramshackle tent camps, using trenches as toilets and open sewage in the streets.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, said there were no restrictions on truck entry. It is said that between May 2 and June 13, more than 8,600 aid and commercial trucks of various types entered Gaza from various crossing points, an average of 201 trucks per day. But much of the aid piles up at border crossings and never reaches its final destination.
Children of Palestinian refugees in the Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip gather with pots and receive food from the kitchen during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territories on June 13, 2024 assistance.
Omar Alqata | AFP | Getty Images
COGAT spokesman Shimon Freedman said it was the United Nations’ fault that its cargo was piling up on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom. He said the agencies had “fundamental logistical issues that have not yet been resolved,” particularly a lack of trucks.
The United Nations denies such accusations. Reports say fighting between Israel and Hamas often makes it too dangerous for U.N. trucks in Gaza to travel to Kerem Shalom, just outside the border with Israel.
It also said deliveries have been slowed because the Israeli military must authorize drivers to go to sites, a system Israel says is designed for driver safety. Due to a lack of security, aid trucks are sometimes robbed by crowds as they drive along Gaza roads.
The new arrangements are designed to provide an uninterrupted 11-hour window each day for trucks to enter and leave the crossing, reducing the need to coordinate deliveries.
It was unclear whether the military would provide security as the rescue trucks traveled along the highway.
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