“It's like giving an analgesics to an unst treated patient”: Israel announces “tactical pause” and allows the entry of some Gaza aid trucks

The measure occurs in the midst of the growing alarm for the situation facing the Palestinians in the strip. Last week 100 humanitarian organizations warned that mass famine is spreading throughout the Palestinian territory.

The Ministry of Health, reported that six new deaths in Gaza were recorded due to malnutrition in the last 24 hours, which raises the total number of people killed due to lack of food at 133. Of that total, according to health authorities, two thirds are children.

The UN agency chief for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, described this hunger crisis as “man caused by man” and called Israel to let Gaza enter the help equivalent to 6,000 trucks that the organism has waiting in Jordan and Egypt.

Western governments had also intensified their pressure on Israel in recent days.

The United Kingdom, France and Germany made a call on Friday to “immediately lift the restrictions on the aid flow.”

The BBC correspondent in Jerusalem, Emir Nader, wrote that the “tactical pause” announced by Israel “is mainly located in areas that should already be safer than other parts of Gaza” while they are “places where the Israeli army has indicated to the Palestinians to move.”

“The most important thing, in my opinion, is that we do not see in the ads any specific commitment by Israel to authorize a significantly greater amount of help for distribution by humanitarian agencies,” he added.

Nader also remarked that it is about to be seen if these “safe runners” promised by Israel are completed. Above all, because in the last hours they have continued to register deaths of Palestinians who come to the help points to find food and end up being attacked.

In fact, this Sunday at least nine Palestinians died and another 54 were injured in an Israeli shooting directed against civilians gathered on the route of a humanitarian aid convoy along Salah Al-Din street, in the center of Gaza, according to medical sources.

According to United Nations figures, at least 1,000 people have died since May in areas close to help distribution points from the “Humanitarian Agency”, backed by Israel and the United States.

Likewise, despite the announcement of Israel, this Sunday it was reported that an Israeli air attack reached a residential building in the west of the city of Gaza.

From the United Nations World Food Program (PMA), they welcomed Israel's decision with satisfaction.

The organization said that it has sufficient foods to feed the entire population of Gaza, composed of 2.1 million people, for almost three months and expects “these measures to allow an increase in food aid that is urgently needed to reach people who suffer from hunger without further delay.”

However, the UN agency warned that “a high agreed fire is the only way for humanitarian aid to reach the entire civilian population of Gaza with essential food supplies in a coherent, predictable, orderly and safe way.”

Israel's announcement has been received with caution by the Gazatis. “Of course I feel a bit of hope again, but I am also worried that hunger will continue once the pause is over,” Rasha al-Sheikh Khalil, mother of four children, 39, resident in Ciudad de Gaza, told the BBC.

“We need a real solution, the end of this nightmare, the end of the war,” he added.

Neveen Saleh, mother of six children, pointed out that the crisis “is not just about the amount of food, but about its quality.”

“We have not eaten a single fresh fruit or vegetables in four months. There is no chicken, no meat, no eggs. All we have are canned foods, many defeated, and flour,” he stressed.

Many inhabitants of Gaza say they are worried that international attention is diluted once some symbolic help deliveries have been made.

“This is not a permanent solution, it is like giving analgesics to a patient with unscathed cancer,” said Ahmad Taha, a merchant from Northern Gaza.

The inhabitants of Gaza have reported difficulty cooking the elements they receive from the shortage of water and fuel.

After the announcement of Israel, Gaza's Ministry of Health called to take “urgent measures to save lives”, which include the entry of help supplies and the evacuation of the injured.

Munir al-Barsh, general director of the distribution, asked to perform emergency medical evacuations for serious injuries, such as brain injuries or in the spine.

He also requested the entry of medical and nutritional supplies, including therapeutic milk for children, concentrated glucose solutions and proteins such as meat, eggs and dairy products.

“Each delay is measured at a new funeral,” he added in a statement.

On Saturday, Israel claimed to have performed air releases with food and basic equipment, which were qualified as a “grotesque distraction” from international organizations.

According to the IDF, the resumption of these launches is part of a “series of actions” aimed at “improving the humanitarian response” in Gaza already “refuting the false statement of an intentional famine.”

However, the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have criticized that way for the delivery of aid, qualifying it as “inefficient” and “expensive.”

“Bringing help by land is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer. It is more worthy for the people of Gaza,” Lazzarini wrote from UNRWA.

These releases, in addition, seem to be a safe form of help distribution.

Rushdi Abualouf, correspondent for the BBC informing from Istanbul, said the air launch of packages on northwest Gaza this Saturday “was a very chaotic situation, with desperate people fighting each other to get food.”

United Arab Emirates (EAU) and Jordan Realiazaron aerial releases in the last hours, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government is committing “everything within his reach” to get help to Gaza by air.

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