Israel’s military on Friday said it was suspending mid-day pauses allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to famine-struck Gaza City, calling it a “a dangerous combat zone”.
The city was among the places that Israel paused fighting last month to allow food and aid supplies to enter from 10am to 8pm. Humanitarian agencies have said that the amount of aid that Israel allows into the blockaded territory falls far short of meeting the population's needs.
The “tactical pauses” applied to Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering. The suspension came as Israel prepared to widen its offensive in the city, days after it launched strikes on key neighbourhoods and called up tens of thousands of reservists.
Israel’s military did not say whether they had notified residents or aid groups about the plans to resume daytime hostilities.
The military did not call for the population to evacuate immediately, but the army's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on Wednesday that the city's evacuation was "inevitable".
UN Security Council affirms Gaza famine is manmade
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
01:31
AFP photos from the centre of the territory on Thursday showed lines of Palestinians fleeing south in vans and cars piled high with mattresses, chairs and bags.
Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed last week to destroy Gaza City if Hamas did not agree to end the war on Israel's terms.
His ministry had previously approved the military's plan to seize the city and authorised the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists.
Israel has said in the past that Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold, with a network of tunnels that remain in use by militants after several previous large-scale raids. The city also is home to some of the territory’s critical infrastructure and health facilities.
Two Israeli strikes launched in quick succession on the city's Nasser Hospital on Monday killed at least 22 people, including five journalists and emergency responders who rushed to tend to the wounded.
The United Nations said Thursday the besieged strip could lose half of its hospital bed capacity if Israel invades as planned.
Gaza: How Israel’s ‘double-tap’ strikes kill journalists and first responders
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
06:44
The suspension of the pause also comes one week after the world’s leading food security authority declared Gaza City was being gripped by a man-made famine after months of warnings.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said hunger has been driven by fighting and Israel's blockade on the majority of aid and magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production.
The IPC analysis concluded hunger, starvation and child malnutrition had surpassed thresholds necessary to declare famine.
Norwegian Refugee Council, which coordinates a coalition of aid groups active in Gaza, said Israel's preparation for its large-scale ground offensive had already made deliveries challenging.
“We have faced unprecedented access and movement restrictions,” spokesperson Shaina Low said Friday. “Intensified military operations are going to further hinder our ability respond.”
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
English (US) · 