Lining up for meals cooked by a charity kitchen in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, on Sunday.
Credit...Ramadan Abed/Reuters

Israel’s Military Announces Small Expansion of Gaza Humanitarian Zone

The move comes just before a Biden administration deadline for Israel to deliver more aid to the enclave or risk a cutoff of military supplies.

by · NY Times

Israel’s military said on Monday that it had expanded a humanitarian zone it created in southern Gaza. The move came just before the expiration of a Biden administration deadline for Israel to deliver more aid to the enclave or risk a cutoff of military supplies.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that the zone would now include field hospitals, tent compounds, shelter supplies and provisions of food, water, medicine and medical equipment, though it did not specify whether any new additions had been made to the resources already present. The military provided a map showing nine areas added to the zone.

Aid agencies have said that supplies are desperately needed to offset the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, especially in the north, where Israel has stepped up military operations against the militant group Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, assault in Israel that started the war.

The Israeli military’s announcement came as the 30-day deadline set on Oct. 13 by the Biden administration is about to expire. The deadline is also set to expire just days after a United Nations-backed panel warned that famine was imminent in the northern Gaza Strip and that action was needed “within days, not weeks” to alleviate the suffering in the enclave.

In one of the starkest American warnings since the war began, the Biden administration said that Israel’s failure to provide more aid to Gaza’s 2.2 million residents before that deadline “may have implications for U.S. policy,” including on the provision of the military assistance upon which Israel depends.

The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday that the United States would evaluate this week “what kind of progress” Israel had made on allowing more aid into Gaza. Speaking on “Face the Nation” on CBS, Mr. Sullivan said President Biden would then “make judgments about what we do in response.”

It remains unclear whether the expansion announced by Israel’s military would lead to any improvement in conditions in the humanitarian zone, known as Al-Mawasi, a coastal area of southern Gaza that was sparsely populated before the war but that is now overcrowded with displaced families.

The area, designated as safe for civilians by Israel’s military this year, has frequently been damaged by Israeli strikes and lacks sufficient medical services. Israel’s military has said that its strikes have targeted Hamas militants and that it takes steps to avoid civilian casualties.

Israel has issued evacuation orders that have affected parts of the humanitarian zone, effectively shrinking the already overcrowded area by more than a fifth.

Israel has repeatedly ordered Palestinians in other areas of Gaza to evacuate to the humanitarian zone, despite protests from aid groups that the area lacks adequate shelter, water, food, sanitation and health care.

Myra Noveck contributed reporting.

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