Israel announces 'tactical pause' to fighting & says it will open aid corridors

[Twiglets1]

As reported by the BBC the IDF has issued a statement, saying that "a local tactical pause in military activity will take place for humanitarian purposes from 10:00 to 20:00 (07:00-17:00 GMT), starting today (Sunday)" in the Gaza Strip.

It says "the pause will begin in the areas where the IDF is not operating: al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City, every day until further notice.

"This decision was co-ordinated with the UN and international organisations following discussions regarding the matter.

"In addition, designated secure routes will be in place permanently from 06:00 to 23:00 to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip."

The IDF adds that it "will continue to support humanitarian efforts alongside ongoing manoeuvring and offensive operations against terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect Israeli civilians."

The IDF adds that it is prepared to expand the scale of this activity as required.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ckg42k37e2pt

I don't understand, the IDF have acknowledged firing - they have acknowledged that there are casualties from these 'warning shots' as they like to call them. What are you disputing?

David Satterfield, who served as the US humanitarian envoy during the early months of the Gaza war, hit back at the Israeli claim in a recent interview.
“It is disingenuous — knowingly false — for any party to assert that it is failure, lack of courage, or deliberate conspiratorial withholding of aid by the UN or international organizations that is responsible for the humanitarian suffering in Gaza,” Satterfield said.

When aid transport roads become too badly damaged by Israeli military operations, when there are insufficient deconfliction mechanisms in place to ensure that aid workers don’t accidentally get hit by IDF fire, when authorizations aren’t given by the army for aid to be picked up and delivered, and when looting becomes increasingly widespread due to food insecurity, an environment is created where the UN is physically prevented from doing its job, the former US envoy explained.

As you said earlier, the IDF are examining the claim that their soldiers shot people around the aid distribution area.

They have acknowledged they fired warning shots but not that they caused injuries to anyone. There are other people with guns in the area you know, unless you have forgotten about Hamas or the gangs.

They are examining the claim that they killed people. They have acknowledged the claim that they shot at people but labelled it as 'warning shots'

The IDF at no point mentioned it was someone else who might have shot them but I suppose welcome to mumsnet where posters will use excuses to defend the IDF even when the IDF haven't.

Shooting to disperse a crowd is not the same as shooting "at people" - I don't think they said they shot at people so much as towards a crowd (perhaps provide the source so we can see what they said).

If the IDF are saying it wasn't them them that caused injuries then logic would tell you it must have been someone else with a gun like Hamas or a gang member even if the IDF didn't explicitly state that. Because somehow the injuries happened, we just don't know who by.

I have read the article and what David Satterfield says does make sense about it not being the UN's fault (or other international organisations) if conditions in Gaza were such that it had become extremely difficult and sometimes impossible for them to distribute aid. It's a good, informative interview and I agree with what he says that the UN are not responsible for the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. That is the fault of Hamas first (in my opinion) and then the Israel government second. Possibly you would put that the other way round. I hope you wouldn't absolve Hamas of all responsibility.

I also think he has interesting things to say about the thorny question of Hamas stealing aid (just his opinion but he seems fair in his assessments).

Is Hamas stealing aid?
Over the weekend, The New York Times — citing two senior military officials — reported that Israel has never found evidence that Hamas has “systemically” stolen aid from the UN. The IDF denied the story.

Satterfield said “there’s no question” that the terror group has worked to take “political advantage and certainly some physical substantive advantage out of the aid distribution process.”

Hamas operatives have made a point of “flaunting” their presence at aid sites in a message to Palestinians that the group has no intention of ceding its role in the distribution process.

However, Satterfield maintained that “the bulk of all assistance delivered by the UN and by the international organizations has gone to the population of Gaza and not to Hamas. Full stop.”

I think this is likely to be a fair assessment - that Hamas did not steal as much aid from the UN as some sources have claimed. But it certainly did steal some which benefited them politically and financially. Overall though, it would have been better to have let the old system remain in place, despite Israel knowing that Hamas were stealing some of the aid (exact amount: unknown).

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-us-humanitarian-envoy-pans-israeli-claim-that-un-allowing-aid-to-amass-on-gaza-border

The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has welcomed Israel's measures to allow more aid into Gaza, but said "vast amounts" of food are needed to stave off starvation.

Israel said 120 lorry loads were collected from crossings on Sunday during the first daily 10-hour "tactical pause" in military operations, and that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 28 packages of food.

However, Fletcher told the BBC that it was just "a drop in the ocean" of what was required and that the coming days would be "make or break".

Hours after he spoke, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said another 14 people had died as a result of malnutrition over the past 24 hours.

That brought the total number of malnutrition-related deaths since the war begin in October 2023 to 147, including 88 children, according to the ministry.

Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies to Gaza, has denied there is starvation in Gaza and rejected accusations of being responsible for food shortages.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62nr9rglm9o

COGAT on X Main humanitarian efforts July 29:

Aid collection: Over 200 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organizations.

Aid entry: Over 220 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup.

Fuel: 4 tankers of fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.

Airdrops: 52 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE and Jordan.

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1950478710571757836?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

COGAT on X Main humanitarian efforts July 30:

Aid collection: Over 200 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and
international organizations.

Aid entry: 270 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup.

2 tankers of fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.

Airdrops: 32 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE, Egypt and Jordan.

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1950793918364213433?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Over the past week, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid, 1,200 trucks, entered Gaza and 1,200 trucks were successfully collected by the UN and international organizations.

Despite this progress, hundreds of trucks remain inside Gaza, waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN and international organizations.

Additionally, hundreds of pallets of humanitarian supplies were airdropped by international partners to help address urgent needs on the ground.

Aid for the civilian population - not Hamas.

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1952006770735370744?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Germany says aid entering Gaza still ‘very insufficient’

The amount of aid entering Gaza remains “very insufficient” despite a limited improvement, the German government says after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel.

Germany “notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius says in a statement.

“Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,” Kornelius adds.

The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expresses “concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organizations.”

A German government source tells AFP it had noted that Israel has “considerably” increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day.

The source says that a German security cabinet meeting today discussed “the different options” for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was made.
A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised.

www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/germany-says-aid-entering-gaza-still-very-insufficient-source-says-berlin-mulling-ways-to-pressure-israel/