Israel says it will allow ‘basic’ amounts of food into Gaza after 10-week blockade – Israel-Gaza war live | Israel
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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.
Israel says it will allow 'basic' amounts of food into Gaza after 10 week blockade
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 into Gaza, 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:
On the recommendation of the IDF and based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip.
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.
Hundreds of internally displaced Palestinian people gather outside a charity kitchen in Gaza city to receive limited food rations. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA