Israel military: Airdrops of aid to and humanitarian corridors established for UN convoys, amid Gaza conflict

Israel’s military says airdrops of aid will begin in Gaza, and humanitarian corridors will be established for United Nations convoys.

The statement issued late Saturday came after increasing accounts of starvation-related deaths in Gaza following months of experts’ warnings of famine.

International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid.

The military’s statement did not say when the humanitarian corridors for UN convoys would open, or where.

It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas.

The statement added that the military “emphasises that combat operations have not ceased” in Gaza against Hamas.

And it asserts there is “no starvation” in the territory.

Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes and gunshots have killed at least 53 people, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service.

Gunfire killed at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north, said staff from Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken.

Israel’s military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd “in response to an immediate threat,” and it was not aware of any casualties.

A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realised it was Israel’s tanks.

That’s when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed.

“We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed,” he said.

On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired toward crowds who tried to get food from an entering UN convoy, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital, told the AP.

“We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,” he said. There was no immediate Israeli military comment.

Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.

Another Israeli strike killed at least eight people, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the city of Khan Younis in the south, according to the Nasser hospital, which received the bodies.

Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital’s morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.

The United Nations and experts say Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine.

“We only want enough food to end our hunger,” said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six.

Israel on Saturday said over 250 trucks carrying aid from the UN and other organisations entered Gaza this week.

About 600 trucks were entering per day during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March.

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks.

A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and described the recall of the Israeli and US delegations as a pressure tactic.

Egypt and Qatar, which mediate the talks alongside the United States, called the pause only temporary and said talks would resume. They did not say when.