DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — On Sunday, the Israeli military initiated a limited ceasefire in three densely populated regions of Gaza, pausing hostilities for 10 hours each day. This measure, alongside airdrops, responds to escalating hunger issues and mounting international criticism regarding Israel’s actions in the ongoing 21-month conflict.

The military announced a “tactical pause” in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Muwasi, which are heavily populated, to enhance the flow of humanitarian aid into the area. This pause is scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily, with no specified end date.

“Regardless of the path we choose, it will be necessary to continue allowing the entry of essential humanitarian supplies,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a press release.

As the military had warned, combat operations continued otherwise. Health officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 38 Palestinians from late Saturday into Sunday, including 23 seeking aid. An airstrike on a Gaza City apartment killed a woman and her four children. Another strike killed four people, including a boy, his mother and grandfather, in the eastern Zaytoun neighborhood.

Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid to the population of over 2 million because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, without providing evidence.

Images in recent days of emaciated children in Gaza have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who call for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has created. Much of Gaza’s population, squeezed by fighting into ever tinier patches of land, now relies on aid.

‘Every delay is measured by another funeral’

Israel’s military also said it would put in place secure routes for aid delivery. It said the new steps were made in coordination with the United Nations and other humanitarian groups.

Neighboring Jordan said it carried out three airdrops over Gaza, including one in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, dropping 25 tons of food and supplies on several locations.

The U.N. World Food Program welcomed the steps and said it had enough food in, or on its way, to feed all of Gaza for nearly three months. It said a ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need. WFP has said a third of Gaza’s population were not eating for days and nearly half a million were enduring famine-like conditions.

Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition after an increase in hunger-related deaths.

“This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn’t turn into a real opportunity to save lives,” he said. “Every delay is measured by another funeral.”

Questions over ceasefire talks

The local pauses in fighting came as ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hamas appeared to be in doubt. Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar on Thursday, blaming Hamas, and Israel said it was considering “alternative options” to talks.

Israel says it is prepared to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something the group has refused.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi said Israel’s change of tack on the humanitarian crisis amounted to an acknowledgement that there were starving Palestinians in Gaza, and asserted that the move was meant to improve its international standing and not save lives.

Troubles with aid delivery

After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies to Gaza for 2 ½ months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Fifty of them remain in Gaza, over half of them believed to be dead.

Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the U.N. and others to distribute. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed. The U.N. says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from arriving trucks.

As a way to divert aid delivery away from the U.N.’s control, Israel has backed the U.S.-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which in May opened four centers distributing boxes of food. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new sites, the U.N. human rights office says.

Israel has railed against the U.N. throughout the war, saying its system allowed Hamas to steal aid. The U.N. denies that claim and says its delivery mechanism was the best way to bring aid to Palestinians.

Killed while seeking aid

The Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said Israeli forces killed at least 13 people, including four children and a woman, and wounded 101 as they were headed toward a GHF aid distribution site in central Gaza.

GHF, which denies involvement in any violence near its sites, said there were no incidents at or near its sites. Israel’s military said it was looking into the report.

Ten other people were killed seeking aid in other areas of Gaza, including northwestern Gaza City, where over 50 people were wounded, hospital officials and medics said.

Israel’s military announced that two more soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 898 since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war. Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that attack, and took 251 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says over half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo.

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