Monday July 28, 2025
By TheNewsDESK |
Israel on Sunday, July 27, announced a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and new aid corridors as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, UAE, airdropped supplies into the enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world, REUTERS reported.
Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
United States, U.S, President Donald Trump, on a visit to Scotland, said Israel would have to make a decision on its next steps in Gaza, and said he did not know what would happen after the collapse of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas.
Military activity will stop daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City, to the north.
The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting from Sunday.
The United Nations food aid agency needs quick approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage of Israel’s planned humanitarian pauses in fighting, a senior World Food Programme official said on Sunday.
United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Sunday that some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased by Israel in Gaza on Sunday after Israel decided to “support a one-week scale-up of aid.”
Initial reports indicate that more than 100 truckloads of aid were collected from crossings to be transported into Gaza, Fletcher said in a statement.
“This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis,” he said.
In their first airdrop in months, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons of aid into Gaza on Sunday, a Jordanian official said, but added that it was not a substitute for delivery by land.
Work on a UAE project to run a new pipeline that will supply water from a desalination facility in neighbouring Egypt to around 600,000 Gazans along the coast would also begin in a few days, the Israeli military said.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
The ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total deaths from malnutrition and hunger since the war began in 2023 to 133, including 87 children.
