(16 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 16 June 2024
1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joe Federman, The Associated Press:
"The Israeli military has announced what it's calling a tactical pause on fighting in the southern Gaza Strip in order to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the territory. This is not a full-fledged ceasefire, it is a halt in fighting in a very small part of Gaza, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. This crossing is important because it's the main gateway for humanitarian aid to enter the territory. Over the past month or so, these deliveries have plunged, since Israel sent ground troops into the nearby Gaza city of Rafah. The UN and other aid organisations say it's become too difficult and too dangerous to send trucks to the crossing to pick up supplies because of this fighting. The idea behind this pause is to create a safe corridor, an 11-hour window where trucks can move safely to the crossing, pick up supplies, and move back into Gaza to deliver them. Now, there are a lot of question marks about how this system's going to work. One of the big ones is how the trucks will be protected as they move around inside of Gaza. But if this new system works, it could mark an important step toward easing the humanitarian crisis inside Gaza."
(++ENDS++)
STORYLINE:
Israel's military announced on Sunday that it would pause fighting during daytime hours along a route in southern Gaza to free up a backlog of humanitarian aid deliveries for desperate Palestinians enduring a humanitarian crisis sparked by the war, now in its ninth month.
The “tactical pause," which applies to about 12 kilometres (7.4 miles) of road in the Rafah area, falls far short of a complete cease-fire in the beleaguered territory that has been sought by the international community, including Israel's top ally, the United States.
The limited halt in fighting could help address some of the overwhelming needs of Palestinians that have surged in recent weeks with Israel's incursion into Rafah.
The army said the pause would begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and last until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT). It said the pauses would be daily until further notice.
The pause is aimed at allowing aid trucks to reach the nearby Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for aid, and travel safely to the Salah a-Din highway, a main north-south road, the military said.
The crossing has had a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops moved into Rafah in early May.
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