THE Israeli military has killed dozens of people in Gaza as the starvation crisis in the territory deepens amid an international outcry, with more Palestinians dying of malnutrition.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli attacks killed at least 71 people across Gaza on Saturday, including 42 desperately seeking aid.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza also said that hospitals have recorded five more deaths due to hunger caused by the Israeli blockade of the enclave, bringing the total death toll from malnutrition to 127 since the war began. The victims include 85 children.
With anger across the world mounting over the crisis, Israel announced late on Saturday that it would implement a pause to its assault “in civilian centers and in humanitarian corridors to enable the distribution of aid supply” on Sunday.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not specify which specific areas would see a “humanitarian pause”.
The ministry also again blamed the United Nations for failing to distribute assistance in Gaza, a claim that has been rejected by both the UN and multiple aid and rights groups.
UN officials have said that this Israeli talking point is false, stressing that they have not received the necessary permits to safely distribute aid in the besieged enclave.
The Israeli military also said it carried out airdrops of international aid over Gaza. The United Arab Emirates, which has close economic and diplomatic ties with Israel, also said it will begin airdropping aid into Gaza “immediately”.
But humanitarian experts have been warning since last year that airdrops are dangerous to people on the ground and cannot serve as a substitute for safe land routes to distribute food and medical supplies.
Earlier on Saturday, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called airdrops an expensive, inefficient “distraction” that would “not reverse the deepening starvation”.
Lazzarini called for Israel to “lift the siege, open the gates [and] guarantee safe movements [and] dignified access to people in need”.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud raised questions over the newly announced Israeli steps.
He said the airdrops’ effect is “equivalent to none”.
“We’re talking about only seven pallets of aid filled with flour and other basic necessities. That’s almost the load of one truck, or half of a truck, coming from the crossings into the Gaza Strip,” Mahmoud said.
He cited witnesses who said the airdrops took place near a restricted military area in northern Gaza, making retrieving them in the dark especially difficult.