Israel will soon slow or halt aid into parts of northern Gaza as it ramps up offensive

JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — Israel will soon slow or halt humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its offensive attempting to cripple Hamas, an official said on Saturday.

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the arrival of aid trucks into the northern part of the strip as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents south.

Israel on Friday declared Gaza City a combat zone, calling it a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a network of tunnels remains in use despite several previous large-scale raids on the area throughout the nearly 23-month-long war.

The shift comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in the city, where hundreds of thousands are sheltering while enduring famine. In recent days, the military has ramped up strikes on the city’s outskirts. AP video footage overnight Friday showed several large explosions across Gaza.

The military’s announcement to resume fighting came as the death toll in Gaza rose to more than 63,000 people. On Saturday, four people were killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Awda hospital, were the bodies were brought.

It was unclear when the pause in aid would begin and when the airdrops would fully stop. By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from the almost daily drops for the past few weeks.

Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment about the airdrops or how it would provide aid to Palestinians as Israel ramped up its offensive.

On Friday, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged Palestinians to flee south, calling evacuation “inevitable.”

Aid groups warn that a largescale evacuation of Gaza City would exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.

Earlier this month the leading authority on food crises said that Gaza City was in famine and that half a million people across the strip were facing catastrophic levels of hunger. On Saturday the health ministry in Gaza said 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, among them three children.

“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in a statement Saturday.

It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.

Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their few remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.

The U.N. said Thursday that 23,000 people had evacuated this past week, but many in Gaza City say there is nowhere safe to go. Others who have been displaced south worry that the area can’t support an influx of people.

“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in the southern city of Deir Al-Balah.

“What exacerbates the situation is the displacement of residents … The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he said.

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Shurafa reported from Deir-al-Balah, Gaza Strip.