The Israeli military announced on Sunday it is starting a daily, hours-long "tactical pause" in its activities along a single stretch of Gaza to allow the entry of more aid deliveries, amid warnings that hunger and the risk of famine are growing.
The pause in fighting will take place along a route in southern Gaza from 8 am to 7 pm every day "until further notice," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The route runs from the key Kerem Shalom border crossing to the Salah al-Din Road, which is the strip's main highway, and then northward toward the Khan Younis area.
The hiatus is intended to "increase the volume of humanitarian aid" arriving into the besieged Palestinian territory, the army said, adding that it was working with UN and international aid agencies.
Food supplies in southern Gaza at risk
After eights months of fighting between Israel's army and Hamas militants, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warns that the people in the southern part of Gaza could soon suffer from the same dire levels of hunger as those seen in northern Gaza.
Carl Skau, the agency's deputy executive director, said on Friday that while progress was being made in the north, the situation was deteriorating again in the south.
"Now our concerns are really in the south, where the progress we have made is being reversed," he said.
The UN's relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) said on Saturday that over 50,000 children in Gaza were in need of treatment for acute malnutrition.
Rafah still in focus
For months Israel has been focusing it military offensive in and around the main southern city of Rafah, considered the last stronghold of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The IDF made clear on Sunday that the "tactical pause" would not apply to Rafah, where the fighting continues.
Sunday's announcement came a day after 11 Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in Gaza, eight of them in Rafah.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, with more than 1,200 dead, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7 last year.
The actions of the Israeli army have been criticized internationally - especially the operations in Rafah, where many displaced Palestinians sought refuge from the war raging elsewhere in Gaza.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 37,000 people have been killed and more than 85,000 injured in the course of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. The figures, which do not distinguish between fighters and civilians, cannot be independently verified at present either.
Israel's far-right opposed to pauses
It was unclear if the Israeli Cabinet knew about the "tactical pause" in Gaza before it was announcement, especially given the outrage it elicited by some ministers.
Israeli media reported that Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had not been informed of the decision in advance.
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed fury at the IDF announcement and noted it came hours after the deaths of 11 soldiers on Saturday.
He wrote on X that whoever made this decision "while our best soldiers are falling in battle" was "a fool and a fool who must not remain at his post."
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joined the outcry, writing: "The humanitarian aid that continues to reach Hamas leaves them in power and threatens to undo our successes in the war."