Israeli military announces ‘tactical pause’ in attempt to increase flow of aid into hard-hit Gaza

By Josef Federman, Wafaa Shurafa And Julia Frankel, The Associated Press on June 15, 2024.

FILE - A bundle of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip with the logo of World Central Kitchen (WCK) is on a truck at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Israel, on May 30, 2024. The amount of aid reaching the U.N. and other groups inside Gaza plunged last month, hundreds of crates packed with food, medicines and other supplies piled up in a parking lot in southeast Gaza. The cargo idling at the Kerem Shalom crossing crystallized a problem that arose after Israel invaded the southern city of Rafah in early May: Sending more aid to Gaza does no good if it cannot be distributed. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli military on Sunday announced a “tactical pause” in its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip to allow the deliveries of increased quantities of humanitarian aid.

The army said the pause would begin in the Rafah area at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. eastern) and remain in effect until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon eastern). It said the pauses would take place every day until further notice.

The pause is aimed at allowing aid trucks to reach the nearby Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid, and travel safely to the Salah a-Din highway, a main north-south road, to deliver supplies to other parts of Gaza, the military said. It said the pause was being coordinated with the U.N. and international aid agencies.

The crossing has suffered from a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops moved into Rafah in early May.