Gaza civilians can flee to safety and get aid during four-hour pauses in fighting.
MAHMUD HAMS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE BOTTLES of water are handed out as Palestinian families fleeing Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza towards the southern areas walk along a highway amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Israel has agreed to humanitarian "pauses" in its offensive on Hamas terrorists in Gaza to help civilians flee the fighting and get more aid into stricken areas, according to the White House.
"Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand," White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
United States President Joe Biden called the pauses a step in the right direction.
Biden has been pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for longer breaks in the fighting after more than a month of war sparked by the 7 October attacks by Hamas terrorists.
Israeli military spokesperson Richard Hecht said the tactical local pauses for humanitarian aid are limited in time and area.
Donors at an aid conference in Paris have pledged around $1.1 billion for Gaza, but access to the Palestinian territory remains very limited, with around 100 trucks a day able to enter, far below the pre-war average.
No crisis
Israeli officials, however, insist there is "no humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
Col. Moshe Tetro, head of coordination and liaison at COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body handling civil affairs in Gaza, showed the press in a briefing in Nitzana, Israel where the Israeli military inspected aid entering Gaza through Egypt's Rafah crossing, saying they helped facilitate the delivery of "water, food, medical supplies and humanitarian aid for shelters."
The official said more than 700 trucks have been authorized by Israel to pass from Egypt since 21 October, a figure corroborated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"If we see that Hamas is using the humanitarian aid (that arrives in Gaza), we will stop it," Tetro warned.
Syria strikes
Meanwhile, Israel's military said Friday it struck an organization in Syria that was behind a drone crash into a school in southern Israel a day earlier.
In a post on X, Israel's army said it did not identify the organization behind the drone, but said it "holds the Syrian regime fully responsible for every terror activity emanating from its territory."
The drone hit did not cause injuries, though several people were treated for shock.
Housing is probably the biggest issue affecting people the world over.
Malacañang on Monday called for a more thorough investigation into the questioned flood control projects in Taguig…
The defense on Monday backed the move by senator-judges to exclude a prosecution witness who testified on the firearms…
