The Israeli military announced Sunday that it would suspend daytime fighting along a route in southern Gaza in a “tactical pause” intended to unclog humanitarian aid deliveries to the Palestinians, in a military plan that Netanyahu has however, branded as “unacceptable”
The “tactical pause“, what It is applied over a section of about 12 kilometers road in the Rafah areait is far from a complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as requested by the international community, including Israel’s main ally, the United States. But it could help address the overwhelming needs of Palestinians amid a serious humanitarian crisis, which has worsened in recent weeks with the Israel raid on Rafah.
The Israeli military said the daily pause would begin at 8:00 in the morningit would last until 7 p.m. and would continue until new notice. Its goal is to allow aid trucks to reach the nearby cross of kerem shalom, controlled by Israel, the main entry point, and travel safely to the Salah a-Din highway, a main highway that runs from north to south, the Army said. The crossing has experienced a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops They entered Rafah in early May.
COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, said that route would increase aid flow to other parts of Gaza, including Khan Yunis, the coastal area of Muwasi and central Gaza. Hard-hit northern Gaza, one of the first targets of the war, receives goods arriving from the north.
The Army said the pause, which begins when Muslims begin celebrating the holiday of Eid Al-Adha, came after talks with the United Nations and other aid agencies. A UN spokesman, Jens Laerke, told the AP that Israel’s announcement was welcome but that “no aid has been sent from Kerem Shalom today,” without giving details. Laerke said the UN expects Israel to take more concrete steps, including smoother operations at checkpoints and regular entry of fuel.
Netanyahu calls the Army plan “unacceptable,” although he does not cancel it
Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest ceasefire proposal, promoted by US President Joe Biden, to stop the fighting and release the hostages held by the Islamist group. While Biden described the proposal as Israeli, the Hebrew country has not fully accepted it, while Hamas has demanded changes that appear unacceptable to Israel.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to press ahead with the war and many members of his far-right government opposing the ceasefire proposal, news of the army’s pause sparked an uproar. low intensity political storm.
An Israeli source cited Netanyahu saying that the plan was “unacceptable to him” when he received the news. The same source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media, said Netanyahu received assurances that “there are no changes” in military policy and that “fighting in Rafah continues as planned.” Israeli television networks later quoted Netanyahu criticizing the military: “We have a country with an Army, not an Army with a country.”
But neither Netanyahu nor the Army canceled the new agreement. While the armed forces insisted that “there is no cessation of fighting” in southern Gaza, they also noted that the new route It would open during the day “exclusively for the transport of humanitarian aid“.
Meanwhile, military operations have continued. nine peoplebetween them five boys, They died on Sunday when a house was hit by an Israeli attack in Bureji,
in central Gaza, according to AP journalists who counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. A man cried over the small bundle wrapped in a sheet that he carried in his arms. Two of the children were playing in the street.
“What did this girl do to you, Netanyahu? Isn’t this forbidden for you?” a woman shouted, holding a dead child. The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the attack.
