Israeli military announces daily pauses in Gaza areas to allow aid

Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the enclave.

Military activity will stop from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City.

The military also announced designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting from Sunday.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending on Sunday more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.

Israel and the U.S. appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.

The U.N. said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.

Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.

It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.

After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The U.N. said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.