Palestine urges full reopening of Gaza crossings as new joint aid airdrops conducted

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH -- The Palestinian government on Saturday urged the international community to increase pressure on Israel to reopen Gaza's border crossings fully, as Israel said fresh aid packages continued to be airdropped throughout the strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said 90 aid packages containing food supplies were airdropped on Saturday throughout the Gaza Strip, as part of broader efforts to enhance humanitarian aid in the territory.

The airdrops were conducted in coordination with Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with Germany and France, both of which joined the aid operation on Friday.

The IDF stated it will keep working with the international community to improve humanitarian efforts in the Strip, while denying allegations of deliberately causing starvation.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian government on Saturday urged the international community to increase pressure on Israel to fully reopen Gaza's border crossings, amid the backlog of thousands of aid trucks at the entrances to the Strip, according to an official statement.

"The food insecurity levels in the Gaza Strip have reached 100 percent, according to reports from specialized UN organizations," the government said, stressing the need to "stop the escalating use of hunger as a weapon to kill the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

Earlier on Saturday, Palestine's official news agency WAFA reported that 18 Palestinian aid seekers were killed by Israeli fire in two incidents in the central Gaza Strip.

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip recorded seven new deaths in the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, including one child, bringing the total number of starvation victims since October 2023 to 169, including 93 children, Gaza-based health authorities said on Saturday.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the IDF said it struck over 130 militant targets across the Gaza Strip over the weekend.

In the northern Gaza Strip, IDF armored troops killed four Hamas militants in an airstrike. In the south, IDF troops killed militants and dismantled militant infrastructure and weapons, according to the statement.

The military also announced the killing of Salah al-Din Za'atra in a July 24 airstrike. Za'atra, identified as the deputy commander of Hamas' Al-Furqan Battalion, was accused of orchestrating attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.