Israel’s military said the airdrops would begin Saturday night in Gaza, after mounting accounts of starvation-related deaths. Israeli officials also said humanitarian corridors will be established.
DEIR AL-Israel’s military announced that airdrops of aid would begin Saturday night in Gaza, and humanitarian corridors will be established for United Nations convoys, after increasing accounts of starvation-related deaths.
The statement late Saturday followed 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 while trying to reach food distribution sites.
The military statement did not say where the airdrops or humanitarian corridors would be. It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas. Israel’s foreign ministry said late Saturday the humanitarian pauses would start Sunday in «civilian centers» along with humanitarian corridors.
The military «emphasizes that combat operations have not ceased» in Gaza against Hamas, and it asserted there is «no starvation» in the territory, where most of the population of over 2 million has been displaced into a shrinking area with little infrastructure. The majority of people rely on aid.
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 coordination with international aid organizations. It was not clear where they would be carried out. And it wasn’t clear what role the recently created and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — meant as an alternate to the U.N. aid system — might play. GHF chair Johnnie Moore in a statement said the group stood ready to assist.At least 53 killed
Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 53 people in Gaza overnight and into Saturday, most of them shot dead while seeking aid, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service.
Deadly Israeli gunfire was reported twice close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north. In the first incident, at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks were killed, said staff at Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken.
