The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that it will observe a daytime pause in fighting along a route in southern Gaza for aid deliveries, together with Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
The route is just west of Rafah, where there is heavy fighting.
COGAT is a unit of the Israeli defense ministry that deals with the welfare of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria (the West Bank).
In a statement, the IDF announced:
As part of ongoing efforts by the IDF and COGAT, to increase the volumes of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and following additional related discussions with the UN and international organizations, starting yesterday (Saturday), a local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes will take place from 08:00 until 19:00 every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.
This is an additional step in the humanitarian aid efforts that have been conducted by the IDF and COGAT since the beginning of the war.
The IDF will continue to support humanitarian efforts on the ground.
The pause was instantly controversial upon its declaration, with right-wing ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government complaining that the military took the decision without consulting the civilian leadership of the country, and arguing that pauses in fighting for aid deliveries only help Hamas continue to fight.
Palestinian sources claimed, falsely, that the humanitarian pause proved that Israel targets humanitarian convoys.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
