GAZA/TEL AVIV (dpa-AFX) – The Israeli military has announced the temporary cessation of military activities in individual areas of the Gaza Strip in the interest of facilitating aid deliveries. This would apply from Saturday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (local time) in different neighborhoods of the cities of Rafah and Deir al-Balah each day, a military spokesman said on Saturday on X, formerly Twitter. The limited cessation of military activities is also intended to ensure that civilians can safely reach the distribution stations for relief supplies.
Humanitarian aid to the suffering Palestinian population in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip is one of the sources of conflict between Israel and international aid organizations. The latter often complain that food, water and other essential goods cannot reach those in need due to bureaucratic obstacles. Israel, which controls the border crossings into Gaza with Egypt, denies stopping the convoys unnecessarily.
Aid organizations describe the situation of 2.3 million Palestinians as catastrophic. 80 percent of them have become internally displaced within the sealed-off coastal area. Living space and communal infrastructure have been largely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands lived in tents or on the streets. There is a lack of food, clean water, medicine, sanitation and health facilities.
The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip./gm/DP/he