Israel declares Gaza fighting pause amid deepening hunger crisis

Israel has announced a “tactical pause” in fighting in parts of Gaza as global anger grows over the worsening starvation crisis in the territory.

Israel declared a “tactical pause” in fighting in parts of Gaza on Sunday and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.

The military also said it had begun air-dropping food into the territory and angrily rejected allegations it was using starvation as a weapon against Palestinian civilians.

In a statement, the army said it coordinated its decisions with the UN and international organisations to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip”.

There was no immediate official response from the UN or non-governmental aid agencies operating in Gaza, and privately sceptical humanitarian sources said they were waiting to see the results on the ground of the Israeli announcement.

Ahmed Abu Halib and his wife Esraa Abu Halib, left, mourn over the body of their 5-month-old baby, Zainab, who died from malnutrition-related causes, according to the family and the hospital, during her funeral outside the Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2025. Picture: AP Photo/Mariam Dagga

The pause in fighting would be limited to areas where the military says Israeli troops are not currently operating - Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City - and last from 10:00 am (0700 GMT) until 8:00 pm every day.

But the Israeli statement added that “designated secure routes” had been opened across all of Gaza to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine.

The Israeli military said these operations, alongside its ongoing campaign against Palestinian armed groups, should disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip”.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.

Israel drops aid in Gaza as global anger grows

Israel says it has air dropped aid into the Gaza Strip and would open humanitarian corridors, as it faced growing international condemnation over the deepening hunger crisis in the Palestinian territory.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume.

Before Israel announced the delivery of seven aid packages, the United Arab Emirates had said it would restart aid drops and Britain said it would work with partners including Jordan to assist them.

The decision to loosen the flow of aid came as the Palestinian civil defence agency said more than 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.

The same day, Israeli troops boarded a boat carrying activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it attempted to approach Gaza from the sea and deliver a small quantity of supplies to the aid-starved population.

The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has gravely deteriorated in recent days, with international NGOs warning of soaring malnutrition among children.

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, July 26. Picture: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

On Telegram, the Israeli military announced it “carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip”.

Earlier, Israel said humanitarian corridors for UN aid convoys to deliver “food and medicine” would also be designated.

This would improve the humanitarian situation, and disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip”, it added.

Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X that a “humanitarian pause” would apply to certain parts of Gaza on Sunday morning to facilitate the aid deliveries.

Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that air drops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants. They are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.

But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart air drops.

Global anger is mounting over the starvation crisis worsening in Gaza. Picture: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

Starmer’s office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts the “prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance”.

The United Arab Emirates said it would resume air drops “immediately”. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. “Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”

‘Starving civilians’

A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.

“Air drops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”

Israel’s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.

Displaced Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp haul food parcels and other items they managed to get from a GHF aid distribution point in the central Gaza Strip. Picture: Eyad Baba/AFP

But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.

A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but it has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points.

Naval blockade

On Saturday evening, the live feed on the Handala boat belonging to pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla showed Israeli troops boarding the vessel.

The soldiers moved in as the boat approached Gaza and three video livefeeds of the scene broadcasting online were cut minutes later.

Israeli forces last month intercepted and boarded another boat run by the same group, the Madleen.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed over 50 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.

Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Originally published as Israel declares Gaza fighting pause amid deepening hunger crisis