Israel has announced plans on Saturday to scale back or stop humanitarian aid to parts of northern Gaza as its military offensive against Hamas intensifies.
This move follows the declaration of Gaza City as a combat zone and is expected to attract further condemnation from both domestic and international communities, as concerns grow over the worsening conditions for Palestinians and the remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of Israel’s military offensive, reports AP/UNB.
An unnamed official stated that Israel will cease airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks entering the region as it prepares for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents to the south.
The decision comes after Israel ended the daytime pauses in fighting that had been temporarily allowing aid deliveries. Gaza, described by Israel as a Hamas stronghold, is believed to still house a functioning tunnel network. However, the United Nations and its partners have expressed that these pauses, along with airdrops and other measures, have been insufficient, with Gaza needing 600 aid trucks per day.
As the offensive expands, families of those still trapped in Gaza have voiced their fears, organising rallies on Saturday demanding a ceasefire and a resolution to bring all hostages and civilians home safely.
In recent days, Israel has intensified its military strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, which has been suffering from famine, as reported by global food security experts.
A break in airdrops for several days has left Palestinians without crucial aid, and there has been no response from the Israeli military on how it intends to handle the delivery of aid to a population of over two million people as they face the shift in Gaza’s demographic due to the ongoing evacuations.
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned that the planned evacuation would create an overwhelming movement of people that no area in Gaza could accommodate.
She said, “Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care.” She also noted that it was impossible to carry out a mass evacuation of Gaza City in a safe and dignified manner.
Footage from Gaza on Saturday evening showed several significant explosions, and the Israeli military later confirmed a strike on a key Hamas figure in Gaza City, though no further details were provided.
Meanwhile, a strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighbourhood resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including six women and three children. Another strike in the Rimal neighbourhood killed seven people. Hamas described the Rimal strike on a residential building as a “brutal escalation against civilians.”
Israeli gunfire also reportedly killed four individuals attempting to access aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 10 people died in the last 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, including three children. Since the beginning of the war, at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes, with 124 of them being children.
The Health Ministry confirmed that 63,371 Palestinians have died during the conflict. Meanwhile, Israel continues to hold out hope for the remaining 48 hostages taken during the conflict, with authorities believing that at least 20 are still alive.
