Israel to open humanitarian corridors amid global outrage over starvation in Gaza

Dozens of Palestinians, mostly women and children, gathered around a charity kitchen in Gaza City in centre of the enclave, carrying their pots and hoping to get some food for their families.

For months, international organisations have been warning of mass starvation in the enclave after 21-months of war amid Israeli restrictions on aid.

Some women and children were in tears as they were desperately waiting to receive whatever small amounts of food they could get.

Wael Shaaban, who was displaced from his home in north Gaza’s Jabaliya camp, said it has been a struggle to secure food and water for his family of six.

“We have been waiting for three hours to fetch some food for our little children. There is no money and no food. There is no water and we try to fetch a meal for our kids to stop their hunger,” he said.

Najwa al-Najjar said one of her children died of hunger during the month of Ramadan. Now, another child is sick and she fears he might die of starvation as well.

“I don’t have flour or anything, and I feed my kids whatever food I get from the charity kitchens,” she said.

Mahmoud al-Najjar says the situation is catastrophic. Food prices, he said, are very high and there is nothing to buy.

“This is a real famine. We wait for charity kitchens that offer so little food, and it is never enough,” he said. Al-Najjar has been displaced with his family 12 times.

Aisha al-Zayd said she wants the war to end so that some sense of normality can return.

“Our kids are dying and infants die the moment they come out of their mothers’ wombs. When will this come to an end?”

As Israel faces growing international outrage over mass starvation in Gaza, on Saturday it announced a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid in.

It said it would being controversial airdrops in Gaza and establish humanitarian corridors for United Nations convoys.

The practice of dropping aid into the enclave has been dismissed by humanitarian groups as expensive, inefficient, and dangerous for those on the ground.

International criticism of Israel, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach food distribution sites run by the Israel and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Israel said that despite the humanitarian corridors and its own airdrops, fighting will continue elsewhere in the embattled enclave.

The US and Israel recalled their ceasefire negotiators this week, blaming Hamas for the diplomatic breakdown.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also faces anti-war protests at home with families of hostages condemning the government’s failure to secure their release.