"On the recommendation of the IDF (the military), and due to the operational need to enable an intensification of the military campaign to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow the import of a basic quantity of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip", says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in a statement.
It is still unclear when the aid shipments will be allowed into Gaza.
Hunger has increased sharply
France is urging Israel to allow an "immediate, extensive and unhindered" resumption of aid to Gaza.
”After three months of diplomatic efforts, the Israeli government finally announces that humanitarian aid to Gaza is being resumed”, writes Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on X.
Since Israel's blockade of Gaza began on March 2, hunger and malnutrition have increased sharply in Gaza, warned the UN Children's Fund Unicef and the World Food Programme WFP at the beginning of the week. WFP ran out of supplies in the Gaza Strip as early as the end of April.
Extensive offensive
According to the UN-backed IPC, about a fifth of the population is at catastrophic risk of famine, the highest risk level.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel launched an "extensive" ground offensive in Gaza. Over 140 people in Gaza have been killed after midnight, Sunday night, according to hospital sources in Gaza.
According to a leak to the British Sunday Times, Israel plans to "divide up" Gaza into three separate districts, cut off from each other by large Israeli-occupied areas.
