The Israeli army has said it will observe a limited daily “tactical pause” along one of the main roads in the Gaza Strip to allow delivery of increased quantities of humanitarian aid, as UN agencies have suspended deliveries from a US-built pier.
The Israel Defense Forces, however, added that the pause should not be seen as a “cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.
The announcement was made as the IDF disclosed the death of three more soldiers on Saturday, bringing the total to 11, including eight killed in an attack on their armoured personnel carrier in the southern city of Rafah.
The tactical pause, which was declared as Muslims around the world began the important religious festival of Eid al-Adha, comes amid fresh focus on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza after eight months of war.
The limited pause followed talks with Egypt and pressure from the US to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We welcome this announcement,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). However, he added: “This has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need.
“We hope this leads to further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues preventing a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza.”
The IDF said the pause would begin in the Rafah area at 8am and remain in effect until 7pm along the main Salah al-Din road, to allow aid trucks to transit between the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, adding the pause would take place every day until further notice.
It said the pause was being coordinated with the UN and international aid agencies.
The decision was immediately condemned by Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“The person who decided on a ‘tactical pause’ especially for the delivery of humanitarian aid while the best of our soldiers are being killed in battle is a fool and an imbecile who must not remain in office,” he said.
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The crossing has suffered from a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops moved into Rafah in early May.
The deaths of the Israeli soldiers come amid mounting evidence that Hamas fighters in Gaza have shifted emphasis from direct exchanges with Israeli troops to insurgent tactics. Fighters have mined buildings with explosives, and used powerful improvised explosive devices [IEDs] and hit and run attacks with rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles.
The losses, among the heaviest for the Israeli military since it began its ground offensive in Gaza on 27 October, are likely to fuel mounting calls for a ceasefire and heighten Israeli public anger over ultra-Orthodox exemptions from the military.
On Saturday night, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv calling for a ceasefire, beginning what they said would be a week of action against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza on Saturday. At least 37,296 have been killed since the Israeli offensive on the territory began, with thousands more believed to be buried under the rubble and tens of thousands wounded.
Israel’s eight-month military offensive against Hamas has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, with the UN reporting widespread hunger and hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine as Israel blocked the delivery of aid and cut off water supplies. The international community has urged Israel to allow in more aid.
From 6 May until 6 June, the UN received an average of 68 trucks of aid a day, according to figures from OCHA. That was down from 168 a day in April and far below the 500 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.
The flow of aid in southern Gaza declined as the humanitarian need grew. More than 1 million Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced, fled Rafah after the invasion, crowding into other parts of southern and central Gaza. Most languish in ramshackle tent camps, using trenches as latrines, with open sewage in the streets.
Cogat, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, claims there are no restrictions on the entry of trucks. It says more than 8,600 trucks of all kinds, both aid and commercial, entered Gaza from all crossings from 2 May to 13 June, an average of 201 a day. But much of that aid has piled up at the crossings and not reached its final destination.
It was not immediately clear whether the army would provide security to protect the aid trucks as they move along the highway.
Agencies contributed to this report