The Israeli navy has killed dozens of individuals in Gaza because the hunger disaster within the territory deepens amid a world outcry, with extra Palestinians dying of malnutrition.
Medical sources instructed Al Jazeera that Israeli assaults killed a minimum of 71 folks throughout Gaza on Saturday, together with 42 desperately looking for help.
The Ministry of Well being in Gaza additionally mentioned that hospitals have recorded 5 extra deaths because of starvation brought on by the Israeli blockade of the enclave, bringing the entire loss of life toll from malnutrition to 127 because the struggle started. The victims embody 85 youngsters.
With anger internationally mounting over the disaster, Israel introduced late on Saturday that it might implement a pause to its assault “in civilian facilities and in humanitarian corridors to allow the distribution of help provide” on Sunday.
The Israeli Ministry of International Affairs didn’t specify which particular areas would see a “humanitarian pause”.
The ministry additionally once more blamed the United Nations for failing to distribute help in Gaza, a declare that has been rejected by each the UN and a number of help and rights teams.
UN officers have mentioned that this Israeli speaking level is fake, stressing that they haven’t obtained the mandatory permits to soundly distribute help within the besieged enclave.
Airdrops’ impact is ‘equal to none’
The Israeli navy additionally mentioned it carried out airdrops of worldwide help over Gaza. The United Arab Emirates, which has shut financial and diplomatic ties with Israel, additionally mentioned it can start airdropping help into Gaza “instantly”.
However humanitarian consultants have been warning since final 12 months that airdrops are harmful to folks on the bottom and can’t function an alternative choice to secure land routes to distribute meals and medical provides.
Earlier on Saturday, Philippe Lazzarini, the top of the UN company for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, known as airdrops an costly, inefficient “distraction” that will “not reverse the deepening hunger”.
Lazzarini known as for Israel to “raise the siege, open the gates [and] assure secure actions [and] dignified entry to folks in want”.
Reporting from Gaza Metropolis, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud raised questions over the newly introduced Israeli steps.
He mentioned the airdrops’ impact is “equal to none”.
“We’re speaking about solely seven pallets of help full of flour and different primary requirements. That’s nearly the load of 1 truck, or half of a truck, coming from the crossings into the Gaza Strip,” Mahmoud mentioned.
He cited witnesses who mentioned the airdrops came about close to a restricted navy space in northern Gaza, making retrieving them at nighttime particularly tough.
Equally, Israel’s plan to permit for so-called “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza beginning on Sunday can have no main impact on the hunger disaster, Mahmoud mentioned.
“Once more, this isn’t an answer after we discuss passing the tipping level of this enforced hunger, and in accordance with medical sources we spoke to earlier in the present day, they confirmed that at this level we’re going to see mass scale hunger mortality,” he mentioned.
As hunger spreads, Israel has pressed on with its each day bombardment of Gaza.
At the least six folks have been killed in an Israeli drone assault on a tent camp in al-Mawasi close to Khan Younis on Saturday. The world designated as a secure zone by Israel has come underneath fixed lethal assault by its forces.
In the meantime, the Civil Defence company in Gaza says none of its autos will be capable of supply lifesaving companies quickly because of disrepair and lack of gasoline, calling on the worldwide neighborhood to behave.
“We stress the necessity for an pressing intervention to strain the Israeli occupation authorities to permit gasoline and restore elements for autos to enter,” the Civil Defence mentioned in a press release.
Whereas some Western nations have made strongly-worded statements towards Israel’s insurance policies in Gaza, advocates have been calling for actual penalties to make sure accountability and deter additional Israeli abuses. Punitive sanctions towards Israel have been raised as prospects.
Handala ship intercepted
Shortly after making its airdrops announcement, the Israeli navy raided a ship of worldwide activists carrying child formulation, meals and medical provides to Gaza.
A livestream confirmed Israeli troopers boarding and intercepting the Handala vessel with 19 activists onboard. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organised the help ship, mentioned the vessel was violently seized in worldwide waters.
“The unarmed boat was carrying life-saving provides when it was boarded by Israeli forces, its passengers kidnapped, and its cargo seized,” the coalition mentioned in a press release. “The interception occurred in worldwide waters outdoors Palestinian territorial waters off Gaza, in violation of worldwide maritime regulation.”
#handala has been intercepted by the israeli occupation forces pic.twitter.com/0Mw1gZUNyi
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) July 26, 2025
It isn’t clear what’s going to occur to the advocates. Final month, Israel intercepted the Madleen help ship and towed it to an Israeli boat earlier than detaining the activists, after which interrogating and deporting them.
Ann Wright, a member of the Freedom Flotilla Steering Committee, known as for the safety of the worldwide activists by their house nations.
“Shield harmless worldwide people who find themselves merely accompanying a small quantity of help – medical and meals – as an emblem of the worldwide outrage at what Israel is doing,” Wright instructed Al Jazeera.
The Gaza Authorities Media Workplace known as the interception of Handala a crime of piracy.
“This blatant aggression represents a serious violation of worldwide regulation and the foundations of maritime navigation, and it exhibits as soon as extra that the [Israeli] occupation acts like a bully outdoors the authority of the regulation,” the workplace mentioned in a press release.