Sunday 27 / July / 2025
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
"The IDF recently carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip," the military posted on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The drop included seven crates of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food, it added.
Footage provided by the IDF showed white parachutes opening from the crates as they were dropped from a plane into the darkness over Gaza.
In a statement posted on X late Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that it would "apply a 'humanitarian pause' in civilian centers and in humanitarian corridors to enable the distribution of aid supply" in Gaza.
The Foreign Ministry again blamed the United Nations for failing to distribute assistance in the Strip.
It added that "Israel rejects the false accusations of 'starvation' propaganda initiated by Hamas."
UN officials have rejected responsibility for the failure to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza, saying aid workers have not received the permissions necessary to provide food, water and other humanitarian aid safely.
Israeli troops board Gaza-bound activist boat
The pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla said Saturday that Israeli forces had intercepted its latest Gaza-bound aid boat, the Handala.
"The Israeli army is here. We are throwing our phones into the sea. See you soon. Stop the genocide," Emma Fourreau, a French member of the European Parliament and part of the Handala crew, posted on X.
A livestream broadcast by the group showed the activists sitting on deck with their hands up as Israeli soldiers boarded the boat.
The Handala had already sailed closer to Gaza than the group's previous vessel, the Madleen, which was intercepted by Israeli forces last month.
At the start of the ongoing war, Israel tightened it maritime blockade of the Palestinian territory, which went into place when Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
