The move is likely to invite further criticism of the Israeli government, as frustration grows both domestically and internationally over the dire conditions faced by Palestinians and the remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of conflict
A protester holds an anti-war placard during a demonstration in Jerusalem on Saturday. PIC/AFP
Israel is set to soon halt or slow humanitarian aid to parts of northern Gaza as it ramps up its military offensive against Hamas, an official said on Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The move is likely to invite further criticism of the Israeli government, as frustration grows both domestically and internationally over the dire conditions faced by Palestinians and the remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of conflict.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving, as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended daytime pauses in fighting that were meant to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and claiming that a tunnel network remains operational. The United Nations and its partners have said that the pauses, airdrops and other recent measures fall far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
“We left because the area became unlivable,” said Fadi Al-Daour, displaced from Gaza City, as vehicles piled high with people and belongings moved through a shattered landscape. “No one is searching, and there are no journalists to film. There is nothing.”
Remains of another hostage identified
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the remains of a hostage recovered in Gaza on Friday were those of Idan Shtivi. He had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza out of over 250 taken, reported AP. Israel believes 20 are still alive.
Families fear that the expanding military offensive will put hostages in greater danger, and rallied again on Saturday demanding a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” said Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, in Tel Aviv.
A massive population movement looming
Israel’s military has in recent days stepped up strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine has been recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday, airdrops had not occurred for several days, breaking the pattern of near-daily deliveries, reported AP. Israel’s army did not respond to requests for comment or clarify how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major population shift in Gaza, home to over two million people.
“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,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
She added that it is impossible for a mass evacuation of Gaza City to be carried out in a safe and dignified manner.
Killed while seeking food
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. On Saturday evening, Israel’s military said it had struck a key Hamas member near Gaza City, offering no further details.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighbourhood killed 12 people, including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told AP. Another strike on the Rimal neighbourhood killed seven.
Hamas, in a statement, described the strike on a residential building in Rimal as a “brutal escalation against civilians.”
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to access aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that another 10 people died due to starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, according to the ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians, but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source for war casualties. Israel disputes these figures but has not provided its own.
(With AP inputs)
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