Israel‘s military says airdrops of aid will begin Saturday night in Gaza, and humanitarian corridors will be established for United Nations convoys..
They have yet to outline when the humanitarian corridors for U.N. convoys would open, or where. It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas.
Gaza’s population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials after some 21 months of war – particularly after Israel enacted a more than two-month-long blockade of the embattled Strip from March until May.
Previously, the UN condemned Israel’s ‘weaponisation of food’ in Gaza, labelling it a war crime, and on Monday the UK, France and more than twenty other Western-aligned countries issued labelling Israel’s operations ‘unacceptable’.
It comes after the UN’s human rights office reported Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food at aid distribution points since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started its operations in late May.
GHF rejected the statistics, describing them as ‘false and exaggerated statistics’ from the United Nations, while an anonymous Israeli security official claimed Hamas were responsible for fabricating ‘cynical’ reports of mass starvation in Gaza to The Times of Israel.
Now, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed in a call with French and German counterparts, the UK is working with Jordan plans to air drop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance.
Palestinians gather to receive food in Khan Yunis, Gaza amid shortages of aid
Smoke rises over Khan Yunis after an Israeli attack on southern Gaza, on July 22, 2025
Palestinian boy Mosab Al-Debs, 14, who is malnourished according to medics, lies on a bed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 22, 2025
The Prime Minister held emergency talks with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz on Saturday amid mounting global anger at the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
In emergency talks held with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz on Saturday amid mounting global anger at the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the leaders agreed it would be ‘vital’ to ensure ‘robust plans’ for an ‘urgently-needed ceasefire’.
‘The Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to air drop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance,’ a Downing Street spokesperson said.
However, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency warned airdrops were ‘a distraction and screensmoke’ that would fail to reverse deepening starvation in Gaza, and could in some cases harm civilians.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said: ‘A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.’
Earlier this week, 111 aid agencies, including including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam signed an open letter warning of ‘mass starvation’ spreading in Gaza, as the population was ‘wasting away’.
‘With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.
‘The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,’ it read.
Israel has previously claimed humanitarian aid was being allowed into Gaza but accused Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering and stealing food to sell at inflated rates or shooting at those awaiting aid.
It has also accused the UN and international NGOs of not distributing aid appropriately.
Last night into Saturday, Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 53 people, with most shot dead while seeking aid, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service.
Israeli gunfire was reported twice within hours close to the Zikim crossing. At least a dozen people were killed while waiting for aid trucks in the first incident, staff at a Shifa hospital said.
Israel’s military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd ‘in response to an immediate threat’ and it was not aware of any casualties.
A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks.
However as but as they neared, they realized it was Israel’s tanks – and the army began to open fire, killing several including his Uncle, he said.
‘We went because there is no food… and nothing was distributed,’ he said.
On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired toward crowds who tried to get food from an entering U.N. convoy.
‘We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,’ Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital said. There was no immediate Israeli military comment.
Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.
Another Israeli strike killed at least eight, including four children, in a crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Nasser hospital.
Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital’s morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.
