ISRAEL – The Israeli military says it will hold a daily “tactical pause of military activity” along a road in southern Gaza to enable more humanitarian aid to enter, but emphasised that there is no ceasefire and combat would continue in Rafah.

The pauses, which are said to have begun on Saturday, will last from 08:00 local time (05:00 GMT) until 19:00 local time until further notice. They will only affect a route that leads northwards from the key Kerem Shalom crossing, which Gaza shares with Israel. Aid agency ActionAid told the BBC it was getting a “confused” picture over what the pauses mean.

Israel has been under continuous pressure from its allies, including the US, to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday’s announcement follows “additional related discussions with the UN and international organizations”.

The route of the humanitarian pause leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of Gaza to the Salah al-Din Road – a main highway – and then northwards to the European Hospital near the city of Khan Younis. In a post on X, the IDF clarified that there is no ceasefire in the southern Gaza Strip, and fighting would continue in Rafah.

A spokesman for ActionAid, which is helping to deliver supplies in Gaza, told the BBC that the pause would help aid getting in but that they needed more details about logistics. “We’re still getting confused pictures around what these tactical pauses mean, how it will enable aid, not only to get inside the Gaza Strip, but to be distributed safely to the civilians there who need it,” Ziad Issa said.

He added that ActionAid had seen “significant attacks on aid convoys that are trying to get from to Gaza from Kerem Shalom in the last few weeks”. According to Israeli media, neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the defence minister Yoav Gallant were aware of plans for a pause before it was announced.

Mr Netanyahu’s office reportedly said the prime minister had told his military secretary that the plan was “unacceptable” after hearing about it on Sunday. He has reportedly been told that there has been no change to the IDF’s policy and that the fighting in Rafah “continues as planned”. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the decision to pause fighting had been made by a “fool” who was “evil”. (BBC)…[+]