White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that the Israeli military agreed to implement daily four-hour pauses to allow the population of the Gaza Strip access to humanitarian aid.
According to the announcement, the pauses have already begun to be implemented in areas north of Gaza. Notification of these interruptions will be made three hours in advance to guarantee that there are no military operations in those areas during that period.
"These are good steps in the right direction," Kirby said after the announcement, as shared by The New York Times.
It is not a ceasefire
Israeli authorities emphasized that these humanitarian pauses are limited in time and area and do not constitute a complete ceasefire in operations aimed at dismantling Hamas.
In its statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) clarified that this decision is only about "tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians."
"We are also providing humanitarian corridors for civilians in Gaza to temporarily move south to safer areas where they can receive humanitarian aid," the IDF reported, clarifying that its conflict is with Hamas and not with the population of Gaza.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 9, 2023
Israel has insisted that Gaza's civilian population evacuate south as its army moves to take down Hamas.
"We will continue until we defeat them"
The announcement of these daily pauses came after several attempts by President Joe Biden to get Israel to implement a ceasefire to negotiate with terrorists the release of hostages and also facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
However, Israel has insisted that it will not pause its war against Hamas until the terrorist group is eliminated. "We will continue until we defeat them; we do not have an alternative," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently.
