By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Charlotte Greenfield
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) -Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.
Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
Military activity will stop from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City, to the north.
The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting from Sunday.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas.
“Our teams on the ground … will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window,” he said in a post on X.
Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children.
On Saturday, a five-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers said.
“Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead,” said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, standing next to the baby’s father as he held their daughter’s body, which was wrapped in a white shroud.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending on Sunday more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza’s 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
A group of 25 states including Britain, France and Canada last week condemned the “drip feeding of aid” and said Israel’s denial of essential humanitarian aid was unacceptable.
The U.N. said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow “the scale up of humanitarian assistance”, adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s people.
Israel and the U.S. appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
HOPE, UNCERTAINTY
Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday’s announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently.
“People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a business owner. “We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up.”
Some others voiced concern about how aid will be delivered and whether it will reach people safely.
“When aid is airdropped, it causes injuries and damage,” said displaced Gaza resident Suhaib Mohammed.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement. He called it a capitulation to Hamas’ deceitful campaign and repeated his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage Palestinians to leave.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir’s comments.
After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The U.N. said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Charlotte Greenfield, Dawoud Abu Alkas, Jaidaa Taha and Mayaan Lubell; Editing by Kate Mayberry, William Mallard, Helen Popper, Alexandra Hudson)
