Israel Allows Aid Into North Gaza, Weighs Southern Humanitarian Zone

Israel’s security cabinet late Saturday approved the temporary entry of humanitarian convoys into northern Gaza, Israeli media and a government source said. The move is intended to ease severe shortages for the roughly one million residents of the densely populated area, which has received little aid since March. The approval enables international organisations to resume truck deliveries, though the cabinet did not clarify whether distribution would be overseen by United Nations agencies or the U.S.–backed Humanitarian Giving Foundation, which currently manages four militarised aid points farther south. Ministers also asked defence officials to draw up plans for a demilitarised “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza, according to Channel 12. The zone would gather civilians away from Hamas and could remain until post-war reconstruction, with an interim civilian administration operating without heavy weapons. Aid groups warn that the north is nearing famine. OCHA estimates that more than 18,700 children were hospitalised for acute malnutrition in Gaza between January and mid-June, while Amnesty International attributes at least 66 child deaths directly to hunger since the war began. The humanitarian steps come amid continued Israeli air strikes. Gaza’s Health Ministry puts the cumulative death toll at over 57,300 Palestinians, with about 132,000 wounded since hostilities erupted in October 2023.