Israel-Hamas war: Israel announces daily 'tactical pauses'

US President Joe Biden reiterated his administration's calls for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip in a message for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.

"Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. Families have fled their homes and seen their communities destroyed. Their pain is immense," Biden said in a statement.

"I strongly believe that the three-phase cease-fire proposal Israel has made to Hamas and that the UN Security Council has endorsed is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and ultimately end the war," he said.

The US has been urging Israel and the Hamas militant Islamist group to formally accept a proposed cease-fire deal that was endorsed by the UN Security Council last week.

The cease-fire proposal has been criticized by some of Netanyahu's far-right coalition allies.

Israel's army has warned of the possibility of escalation with the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region," Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in English in a video statement posted to the platform X, formerly Twitter.

"Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians — until security along our border with Lebanon is restored," Hagari vowed.

Last week, Hezbollah launched its largest rocket and drone attacks since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli military said that it had carried out several air strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The US and France say they are working on a negotiated settlement to end the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The Lebanese militant group has said a cease-fire would be conditional on Israel ending its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group. 

At least 37,337 people have been killed in Gazaduring more than eight months of war between Israel and the Palestinian militants, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.

The toll includes at least 41 deaths in the past 24 hours, a statement from the ministry added.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

The number of wounded in Gaza continues to rise, reaching 85,299 people since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

Hamas is labeled as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and Germany, among others.

On Sunday, Israel's military announced a "pause" in fighting around an area of Rafah to facilitate aid deliveries.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned about dire shortages of food and other urgent supplies in Gaza, partly due to overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Following Israel's announcement that it would be pausing operations daily for 11 hours in a part of southern Gaza to allow more aid to enter the enclave, humanitarian agencies will be hoping that their work will be easier and safer.

But will that be the case? DW interviewed Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council:

The United Nations said Sunday that it welcomed the Israeli decision to implement daily pauses in operations to facilitate aid deliveries in the southern Gaza Strip.

In an email to the AFP news agency, UN aid agency spokesman Jens Laerke said, however, that "this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need."

"We hope this leads to further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues preventing a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza," he added.

"The UN and our humanitarian partners are ready to engage with all parties to ensure life-saving assistance reaches those in need across Gaza, where catastrophic hunger is widespread," Laerke said.

"Living conditions for affected and displaced families in Gaza are dire. They urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter and health care, with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks," he said, adding that the UN was urging that "humanitarian operations in Gaza must be fully facilitated, and all impediments must be lifted."

Far-right members of the Israeli government have expressed outrage at the announcement by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) that it would hold 11-hour "tactical pauses" in southern Gaza to allow easier entry of humanitarian aid.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X, formerly, Twitter, of a "delusional announcement," saying that aid entering Gaza served only to keep the militant group Hamas in power. 

The minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, writing on the same platform, called the person behind the decision "a fool who should not continue in his position," saying the move went against decisions made by Israel's War Cabinet.

He said the current "crazy and delusional approach" would cause even "more dead and fallen" for Israel.

Meanwhile, The Times of Israel has cited a diplomatic source as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, upon hearing the announcement, had told his military secretary "that this is not acceptable to him."

"After an inquiry, the prime minister was informed that there was no change in IDF policy and that the fighting in Rafah continues as planned," the paper cited the source as saying.

The daily Haaretz, however, reported that the military had rejected government claims of ignorance about the decision.

According to the paper, the Israeli army said Netanyahu had instructed security authorities to allow safer access for humanitarian aid after several high-profile instances of aid workers being killed by the Israeli military.

As Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, Palestinians have also held prayers among ruins in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Dozens of Palestinians gathered Sunday morning near a destroyed mosque in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis to mark what is one of the two main Islamic holidays.

In the nearby town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Muslims held their prayers in a school that has been converted into a shelter.

As the war in Gaza continues, Palestinians also gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.

The mosque, situated at a site that is also sacred to Jews, has often been a flash point for Israeli-Palestinian tensions and has seen several violent incidents in past years.

The US Naval Forces Central Command said Sunday it had rescued crew from the Liberian-flagged Greek-owned bulk carrier M/V Tutor, which was crippled by a bomb-carrying drone boat launched by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a June 12 attack in the Red Sea.

The US Navy said the attack caused major flooding and damage in the engine room and that one civilian sailor remained missing.

"Despite these senseless attacks on innocent mariners just doing their job, the Philippine Sea crew stand ready to help preserve safety of life at sea, always," said Steven Liberty, commanding officer of the USS Philippine Sea.

It said the M/V Tutor remained in the Red Sea and was taking on water.

In its statement on Saturday, Central Command also said crew members from the Palauan-flagged cargo ship M/V Verbena had been saved by another vessel, M/V Anna Meta, after the former ship was hit by two separate Houthi missile attacks off the coast of Yemen on Thursday.

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping routes since November, killing three sailors, seizing one vessel and sinking another, according to the US Maritime Administration. 

The rebel group, which controls much of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, has said the attacks are meant to halt the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, but many have hit vessels unconnected with the conflict.

Meanwhile, as the US Navy fights to combat the Houthi attacks, which have caused major disruption to global shipping, the Central Command said US strikes had destroyed seven radars within Houthi-controlled territory. 

"These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping," Central Command said Saturday.

Several highways and interchanges across Israel were blocked on Sunday by protesters calling for elections and a deal to bring home hostages still held by Hamas who were seized in deadly raids by the militant group in southern Israel on October 7, Israeli media reported.

According to The Times of Israel, activists are planning a week of such protests amid growing public anger at the government's handling of the hostage situation.

Sunday's protest actions follow a demonstration by tens of thousands of Israelis in Tel Aviv on Saturday, one of the now weekly protests held by families and supporters of the hostages.

Participants called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza and enable a deal for the return of the hostages to be struck with Hamas.

"It has become abundantly clear that every additional day of war harms Israel's interests," a statement by a group representing family members of hostages held in Gaza said, according to the daily Haaretz.

Israel says 116 hostages of the more than 250 captured on October 7 remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will soon visit Washington for talks with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

The meeting will aim to "further discuss ongoing security developments in the Middle East," Pentagon press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement on social media platform X.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Gallant, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza, but since the US is not a state party to the ICC, it is highly unlikely that Gallant would be arrested during his visit.

While the defense minister is part of Netanyahu's Likud Party, he has clashed with the prime minister several times. But he has refused to leave the War Cabinet despite calls from former cabinet member Benny Gantz.

The announcement comes as US President Joe Biden's administration seeks to push a cease-fire proposal that it says has the support of Netanyahu.

The proposed deal has, however, met with flat-out rejection from some of Netanyahu's far-right allies, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas has so far stopped short of accepting the plan and called for several amendments.

The Israeli army announced Sunday that it would hold a daily "tactical pause of military activity" in part of the southern Gaza Strip to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave via a key border crossing.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the Israel Defense Forces said "a local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes will take place from 08:00 until 19:00 (0500 GMT until 1600 GMT) every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northward."

The statement said the move aimed to "increase the volumes of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip" following discussions with the UN and other organizations.

Aid groups have long complained that they have been unable to deliver much-needed supplies to the Palestinian territory amid ongoing fighting there.

The route described in the statement runs south of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where
Israel's army is continuing operations that it says aim to root out remaining Hamas militants holed up in the area.

The operations in Rafah have met with much international condemnation, as many Palestinian civilians had sought refuge in the city from fighting elsewhere in the territory.

Israel's offensive in Gaza comes in response to raids in the country's south carried out by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 last year in which some 1,200 Israelis died and more than 250 hostages were taken.

tj/ab (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)