We are continuing the Guardian’s live coverage of developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of a “basic quantity” of food intoGaza, after coming under increasing international pressure to lift its devastating blockade of the Strip, which had lasted for 10 weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said:
Israel imposed its blockade in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza.
Amid Israel’s blockade, most community kitchens have now shut down. The main food providers inside Gaza – the UN’s World Food Programme and World Central Kitchen — say they are out of food. Vegetables and meat are inaccessible or unaffordable. Crowds queue for hours for a small scoop of rice.
Axios cited two senior Israeli officials on Sunday saying that the resumption of aid flow will come through existing channels until a new mechanism is implemented.
It came after the Israeli army announced the start of an expanded assault on Gaza, describing “extensive ground operations” to seize “operational control” of swaths of the territory.
Al Jazeerais reportingthat Israeli forces have bombed the pharmaceutical laboratory of theNasser medical complexin southern Gaza’sKhan Younisafter launching a barrage of air attacks on the city that killed at least six people.
The attack reportedly happened while Palestinian people who were injured or killed in other Israeli airstrikes were being brought to the hospital.
Israeli forces have targeted the Nasser hospital and its surroundings numerous times over the war.
Hospitals inGazasay more than 100 Palestinian people were killed by Israeli attacks in the past day, with northern Gaza’sIndonesian hospitaland theJabalia refugee campamong the targets.
The territory’s health ministry yesterday accused Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”, after sieging the Indonesian hospital which was knocked out of service.
It was the main medical facility in the north after Israeli airstrikes last year forced the Kamal Adwan and Beit Hanoun hospitals to stop offering services.
Following Israel’s announcement on aid yesterday, it was not immediately clear how much would be allowed in, or when, or how.
Aid workers are wrestling with moves by Israel and the US to impose a controversial new aid system, which would limit distribution to a few locations and put it under armed private contractors — to prevent theft by Hamas, Israel claims.
Humanitarian workers, however, say it won’t meet Gaza’s needs and violates humanitarian principles. The UN denies that significant aid diversion takes place.
The plan has also been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful by aid agencies because it could lead to the forced mass transfer of populations.
We are continuing the Guardian’s live coverage of developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of a “basic quantity” of food intoGaza, after coming under increasing international pressure to lift its devastating blockade of the Strip, which had lasted for 10 weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said:
Israel imposed its blockade in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza.
Amid Israel’s blockade, most community kitchens have now shut down. The main food providers inside Gaza – the UN’s World Food Programme and World Central Kitchen — say they are out of food. Vegetables and meat are inaccessible or unaffordable. Crowds queue for hours for a small scoop of rice.
Axios cited two senior Israeli officials on Sunday saying that the resumption of aid flow will come through existing channels until a new mechanism is implemented.
It came after the Israeli army announced the start of an expanded assault on Gaza, describing “extensive ground operations” to seize “operational control” of swaths of the territory.