Israel to open Gaza humanitarian corridors as aid drops begin

Israel has said it is prepared to open humanitarian corridors to allow UN convoys into Gaza, following weeks of international pressure and a growing hunger crisis.

In a statement on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had allowed air drops of humanitarian aid to resume, the first of which consisted of seven pallets of flour, sugar and canned food provided by international organisations.

The announcement came amid calls for Israel to let more aid into Gaza and amid warnings of mass starvation following months of limited supply to the territory’s two million people.

Israel denied what it called “the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip”.

The IDF said it had “begun a series of actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip”, and was “prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas”.

It also stated that it had resumed supplying power to a desalination plant in Gaza, which it said would “serve about 900,000 residents”.

Reuters late on Saturday reported Palestinian sources as confirming air drops had resumed in northern Gaza.

Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March, and resumed with new restrictions in May.

Along with the US, it backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and allowed it to operate in Gaza.

There have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking aid since the GHF began operations in late May. Witnesses have told the BBC most have been shot by Israeli forces. Israel has said that its troops fire warning shots and has disputed reported death tolls. It accuses Hamas of instigating chaos near the aid points.

The UN, aid groups and some of Israel’s allies have blamed the country for a growing food crisis in Gaza, and called for the unrestricted entry and delivery of aid as the Hamas-run health ministry said dozens of people were dying from malnutrition. On Saturday it put the toll from the last few days at 125, including 85 children.

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the crisis as “man-made mass starvation”.

The IDF said in its statement that responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza “lies with the UN and international aid organisations” and added they must “ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas”.

Israel’s apparent concessions on Saturday followed its acceptance of a Jordanian and UAE plan, backed by the UK, to air drop aid into Gaza. Aid agencies however said such would do little to mitigate the hunger of Gazans.

The head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, said air drops were “expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians” if they did not go according to plan.

Lazzarini said his organisation had “the equivalent of 6,000 trucks” in Jordan and Egypt waiting to enter Gaza, and urged Israel “lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need”.

The BBC spoke to several Gazans on Saturday who worried air drops could cause “serious harm”.

One man living in the north of the strip told BBC Arabic’s Middle East Daily that the process was “unsafe” and “caused numerous tragedies” when similar relief efforts were attempted last year.

“When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death,” he said.

Meanwhile, Palestinians are battling dehydration along with starvation. One mother told the BBC she was “living with no food or drink, no food, no bread, not even water.”

Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.