TEL AVIV, May 19: Israel has announced allowing limited humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite its extensive new ground operations. However, no aid had gone in by mid-afternoon Monday.
Aid trucks that were briefly parked on the Israeli side of a border crossing turned back and drove off into Israel. The developments come after a nearly three-month blockade and warnings by global experts of impeding famine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a “starvation crisis” in Gaza would jeopardise the new offensive. In early March, Israel cut off all food, medicine, and other supplies to the territory of over 2 million people to pressure Hamas over ceasefire terms.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
Hamas insists on a partial deal to release some hostages without committing to ending the war. Hamas will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Lebanon’s president urges halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and backs the disarming of Hezbollah. A US-brokered ceasefire ended a monthslong Israel-Hezbollah war, but the militants claim to have mostly pulled out of southern Lebanon in the deal. Israel is targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure and militant figures. (AP)
