Israeli troops halt operations in Gaza for ‘humanitarian’ reasons

The Israeli military has announced a ‘tactical pause’ in military operations in parts of Gaza for humanitarian purposes. The statement follows months of experts’ warnings of famine.

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen, in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Saturday. AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

The Israeli army announced on Sunday a “tactical pause” in military operations in some parts of Gaza for humanitarian purposes.

“The pause will begin in the areas where the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is not operating: Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City, every day until further notice,” it said in a statement. Designated secure routes would be in place for the safe passage of humanitarian convoys, it added.

The statement follows months of experts’ warnings of famine amid Israeli restrictions on aid. International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food distribution sites.

The military statement did not say where the airdrops or humanitarian corridors would be, but Egyptian state-linked media on Sunday reported that aid trucks had begun entering the Gaza Strip.

“Egyptian aid trucks begin to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” Al-Qahera News posted on X, alongside footage of aid convoys moving in the border area.

The Israeli military said on Sunday the daily pause in the enclave, running from 10am to 8pm (local time), would apply only to specific areas, including Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah, and parts of Gaza City, where Israeli troops are not currently operating.

It added that secure routes had been opened across the enclave to facilitate UN and aid agency convoys. The move comes amid mounting international pressure over Gaza’s worsening hunger crisis. Israel began air-dropping food into the territory, following similar announcements from the UAE and UK.

However, humanitarian officials remain sceptical. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned air drops were “expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians”.

Israel insists it is not restricting aid and claims some UN agencies are failing to distribute supplies already inside Gaza.

But relief organisations accuse the military of limiting access and creating dangerous conditions near distribution centres.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late on Saturday the pauses would start on Sunday in “civilian centres” along with humanitarian corridors. The military “emphasises that combat operations have not ceased” in Gaza against Hamas, and asserted there is “no starvation” in the territory, where most of the population of more than two million has been displaced into a shrinking area with little infrastructure. The majority of people rely on aid.

Later, the Israeli military released video footage of what it said were airdrops in co-ordination with international organisations and led by COGAT, the Israeli defence agency in charge of aid co-ordination in the Palestinian territory. It said the drop included seven packages of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will personally urge President Donald Trump to resume Gaza ceasefire negotiations as the UK prepares to join efforts to airdrop aid and evacuate children from the strip.

Sir Keir will meet the President at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland on Monday amid international alarm about conditions in the territory. No. 10 Downing Street has said there is “unspeakable suffering and starvation”.

Sir Keir is expected to ask Mr Trump, who praised him when he touched down in Scotland last week, to revive the peace talks after the US and Israel withdrew negotiation teams from Qatar. Mr Trump has since blamed Hamas, saying the terrorist group “didn’t really want to make a deal”.

On Saturday, Sir Keir also held emergency talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and the three agreed “it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace”.

Witness accounts from Gaza have been grim. Some health workers are so weakened by hunger that they put themselves on IV drips to keep treating the badly malnourished. Parents have shown their limp and emaciated children. Wounded men have described desperate dashes for aid under gunfire.

The military statement said airdrops would be conducted in co-ordination with international aid organisations.

It wasn't clear what role the recently created and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – meant as an alternate to the UN aid system – might play.

Palestinians across Gaza are facing a daily struggle to find food as supplies entering the besieged enclave have diminished since Israel overhauled the aid distribution system in May. There has been a rise in malnutrition cases in Gaza, which was already running low on food after Israel blocked aid shipments in early March.

Some UN trucks are still entering Gaza, but in much lower numbers. Aid agencies say Israel impedes their ability to safely do their work, and that food scarcity is contributing to a breakdown in law and order. The GHF and Israel say the UN has refused to deliver aid piling up on Gaza’s border.

The airdrops were requested by neighbouring Jordan, and a Jordanian official said they mainly will drop food and milk formula.

With agencies