The Israeli army announced today that it will apply from now on “regular pause” of its operations daily in the southern Gaza Strip sector in order to “increase the amount of incoming humanitarian aid” to the Palestinian enclave.

The “regular local cessation of military activity will be implemented from 08:00 to 19:00 (including local and Greek times) daily until further notice”, along the route from the Israeli border crossing Kerem Shalom to Salah al-Din roadin the north, Israel’s armed forces explained in a statement.

He stated that he made this decision as part of efforts to “increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip’ after talks with the UN and other ‘organisations’.

The development comes on the 254th day of the war with Hamas and while, on the diplomatic front, hopes of a ceasefire agreement seem to be receding, as the warring sides remain steadfast in their positions, leaving little chance of the proposal being implemented US President Joe Biden in attendance on May 31.

Little children are dying of starvation

According to the UN, mass starvation is now threatening to erupt in the Gaza Strip, where 75% of the 2.4 million residents have been repeatedly displaced.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 8,000 children under the age of five in the Gaza Strip have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition and are being cared for, including “1,600 children with extreme acute malnutrition.”

“There have already been 32 deaths from malnutrition, including the deaths of 28 children under the age of five,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.