Overnight, Israel appeared to bend under the international pressure fed, in part, by gut-wrenching images of emaciated starving children in Gaza. After a special session during the day, called by Prime Minister Netanyahu for select ministers, they decided to allow in, temporarily, more humanitarian aid.
The IDF said in a statement on Telegram that, earlier in the night, it “carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip.” The military said the move was taken “in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.” Yet, airdrops are the least effective and most expensive way to deliver aid. The question today is whether the truckloads of aid will be facilitated.
Israel announced today that it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the enclave, reported Reuters. Military activity will stop from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., local time, until further notice, for the populated areas of Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City. The military also announced designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m, starting today.
According to another report in Reuters, aid trucks started moving toward Gaza from Egypt, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said today. Dozens of trucks carrying tons of humanitarian aid moved towards the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in southern Gaza, the Al Qahera correspondent said from the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
