By AP
Published on
ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
The statement issued late Saturday followed months of experts’ warnings of famine. International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid.
The military’s statement did not say when the humanitarian corridors for U.N. convoys would open, or where. It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas.
The statement added that the military “emphasizes that combat operations have not ceased” in Gaza against Hamas. And it asserted there is “no starvation” in the territory.
Witness accounts from Gaza have been grim. Some health workers are so weakened by hunger that they put themselves on IV drips to keep treating the badly malnourished. Parents have shown their limp and emaciated children.
The Israeli military statement said the airdrops would be conducted in coordination with international aid organizations. It was not immediately clear where they would be carried out. And it was not clear what role the recently created and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — meant as an alternate to the U.N. aid system — might play.