INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The flow of aid in southern Gaza declined just as the humanitarian need grew
(File Photo)4 min read Last Updated : Jun 16 2024 | 1:20 PM IST
Israel's military announced on Sunday that it would pause fighting
throughout daytime hours along a route in southern Gaza to free up a backlog of humanitarian aid deliveries destined for desperate
Palestinians enduring a humanitarian crisis sparked by the war, now in its ninth month.
The tactical pause announced by the military, which
applies to about 12 kilometres (7.4 miles) of road in the Rafah area, falls far short of a complete cease-fire in the beleaguered territory
that has been sought by the international community, including Israel's top ally, the United States
If it holds, the limited halt in fighting could help address some of the overwhelming needs of Palestinians that have surged even more in
recent weeks with Israel's incursion into Rafah.
The army said the pause would begin at 8 am (0500 GMT) and remain in effect until 7 pm
It said the pauses would take place every day until further notice.
The pause is aimed at allowing aid trucks to reach the nearby
Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid, and travel safely to the Salah a-Din highway, a main
north-south road, the military said
The crossing has suffered from a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops moved into Rafah in early May.
COGAT, the Israeli military body
that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, said the route would increase the flow of aid to other parts of Gaza, including Khan Younis, Muwasi
Hard-hit northern Gaza, which was an early target in the war, is being served by goods entering from a crossing in the north.
The military
said the pause came after discussions with the United Nations and international aid agencies.
Aid agencies, including the UN, did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
The pause along the southern route comes as Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal
for a cease-fire, a plan that was detailed by President Joe Biden in the administration's most concentrated diplomatic push for a halt to
the fighting and the release of hostages taken by the militant group
While Biden described the proposal as an Israeli one, Israel has not fully embraced it and Hamas has demanded changes that appear
unacceptable to Israel.
Israel's eight-month military offensive against the Hamas militant group, sparked by the group's October 7 attack,
has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, with the UN reporting widespread hunger and hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of
The international community has urged Israel to do more to ease the crunch and has said the ongoing fighting, including in Rafah, has
complicated aid deliveries throughout the war.
From May 6 until June 6, the UN received an average of 68 trucks of aid a day, according to
figures from the UN humanitarian office, known as 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 just 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 now languish in ramshackle tent camps, using trenches as latrines, with open sewage in the streets.
COGAT says 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 May 2 to June 13, an average of
But much of that aid has piled up at the crossings and not reached its final destination.
A spokesman for COGAT, Shimon Freedman, said it
was the UN's fault that its cargos stacked up on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom
He said the agencies have fundamental logistical problems that they have not fixed, especially a lack of trucks.
The UN denies such
It says the fighting between Israel and Hamas often makes it too dangerous for UN trucks inside Gaza to travel to Kerem Shalom, which is
right next to Israel's border.
It also says the pace of deliveries has been slowed because the Israeli military must authorise drivers to
travel to the site, a system Israel says was designed for the drivers' safety
Due to a lack of security, aid trucks in some cases have also been looted by crowds as they moved along Gaza's roads.
The new arrangement
aims to reduce the need for coordinating deliveries by providing an 11-hour uninterrupted window each day for trucks to move in and out of
the crossing.
It was not immediately clear whether the army would provide security to protect the aid trucks as they moved along the
highway.First Published: Jun 16 2024 | 9:48 AMIST
