Tel Aviv [Israel], June 16 (ANI): The Israeli military has announced it will conduct a daily "tactical pause of military activity" in regions of the southern Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to Palestinians, The Times of Israel reported.
The IDF said that the halt will take place between 8 am to 7 pm each day along a road from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah a-Din road, and then northward toward the Khan Younis area.
The Israeli military said, "This is an additional step in the humanitarian aid efforts that have been conducted by the IDF and COGAT since the beginning of the war." The IDF stated that the move started on Saturday, The Times of Israel reported.
Earlier on June 11, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced USD 404 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the region during a humanitarian conference in Jordan.
The new funding announced by Blinken includes USD 64 million through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support partners on the ground to provide urgently required food assistance to Palestinians in need and critical logistics support to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian goods to and across Gaza, according to the statement released by USAID.
In addition, this announcement includes USD 340 million in funding through the US State Department to provide essential immediate and medium-term support to vulnerable Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the region, including through the provision of safe drinking water, health care, protection, education, shelter, and psychosocial support, according to USAID statement.
Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, eight Israeli soldiers lost their lives in a devastating blast on Saturday, marking the deadliest incident for the IDF in the Strip since January, The Times of Israel reported.
Among the fallen, Cpt Wassem Mahmoud, aged 23, a deputy company commander in the Combat Engineering Corps' 601st Battalion from Beit Jann, has been identified. The names of the remaining seven soldiers will be released following notification of their families.
Initial findings from an IDF investigation indicate that the soldiers were inside a Namer armoured combat engineering vehicle (CEV) when the explosion occurred. The incident took place around 5 am as the convoy, following an overnight offensive against Hamas in Rafah's Tel Sultan neighbourhood, was en route to secure buildings for rest, as reported by The Times of Israel.
The Namer CEV, positioned as the fifth or sixth vehicle in the convoy, was struck by a powerful explosion. It remains unclear whether the blast resulted from a pre-planted bomb or if Hamas operatives directly placed an explosive device on the vehicle. Investigators are also considering whether explosives stored outside the CEV contributed to the intensity of the explosion.
According to the IDF, there was no exchange of gunfire during the incident, and the vehicle was in motion at the time of the explosion. The deaths of these soldiers bring the total toll of IDF casualties during its war against Hamas and operations along the Gaza border to 307. This figure includes a police officer killed in a recent hostage rescue operation and a civilian Defense Ministry contractor also lost in the conflict, according to The Times of Israel.
The deadliest incident before the blast that took place on Saturday occurred in January when 21 soldiers were killed in a blast triggered by Hamas RPG fire that resulted in the collapse of two buildings. (ANI)
