While aid convoys began entering Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 43 Palestinians on the same day, including 29 aid seekers.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid began entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Sunday morning, amid mounting international pressure and warnings from aid organizations of a famine in the besieged enclave.
The Israeli military announced a temporary suspension of military operations in three areas of the Gaza Strip—Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City—effective daily from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time, until further notice.
It also designated “safe routes” for food and medical aid convoys from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. each day.
These areas have not witnessed Israeli ground operations since last March, when the army resumed its campaign against the Strip.
The Israeli military further announced the airdropping of seven aid packages containing flour, sugar, and canned food to areas in the northern Gaza Strip, and said it had reactivated an electricity line to power the southern desalination plant in Gaza.
Scores of Palestinians Killed as Aid Workers Face Unprecedented Danger
The Cairo News Channel posted on social media that “Egyptian aid convoys have begun entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” accompanied by video footage showing trucks in the border area. The channel also reported the arrival of aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing in preparation for entry into Gaza.
The Israeli army claimed these measures were part of newly established “humanitarian corridors” to facilitate UN aid deliveries and a “humanitarian ceasefire” in densely populated areas, particularly in northern Gaza.
However, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir strongly criticized the entry of aid into Gaza, describing it as a “grave mistake” that endangers the lives of Israeli soldiers.
He claimed that the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas is exploiting these humanitarian corridors and expressed dissatisfaction over his exclusion from decisions regarding aid, calling it “very dangerous.”
Palestinian sources confirmed the airdrop of aid into northern Gaza, while the United Nations reiterated that such airdrops are merely a “distraction” from the catastrophic reality on the ground and fail to address the root causes of the crisis.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, placed responsibility for the distribution of aid on the United Nations and international organizations, stating its “expectation to improve the effectiveness of distribution and ensure that aid does not reach Hamas.”
Behind Gaza’s Hunger Crisis: When Will the UN Officially Declare Famine?
Despite these declared truces and humanitarian measures, Israeli military operations have continued across Gaza. Medical sources reported that 43 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces since dawn on Sunday, including 29 aid workers.
Four Palestinians, including children, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a tent for displaced persons near the desalination plant in the al-Barakah area, south of Deir al-Balah. The wounded were transferred to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
A girl was killed and others were injured in an Israeli bombardment of a residential apartment in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent.
Al-Awda Hospital reported nine Palestinians killed and at least 50 others injured while waiting for aid near the Netzarim junction in central Gaza.
In Khan Yunis, five Palestinians from one family, including children, were killed, and others were injured after an Israeli drone targeted a tent housing displaced people in the Asdaa area.
Nasser Medical Complex confirmed that seven Palestinians were killed in the shelling of displaced persons’ tents in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis. Six more, including two children, were killed and several others injured by Israeli army fire near an aid center southwest of the city.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, marked by mass killings, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, despite repeated international calls and rulings by the International Court of Justice demanding a halt to the aggression.
This genocide, carried out with full American support, has left more than 204,000 Palestinians dead or wounded—most of them women and children—along with over 14,000 missing. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and famine has claimed the lives of many more.
(PC, AJA)
