Experts say Israel’s ‘humanitarian pauses’ will not mean much for Gaza

https://aljazeera.com/features/will-israels-humanitarian-pauses-…

Analysts say the temporary cease in fighting is not only glaringly inadequate but a PR move led by US interests.

On Thursday, the White House announced that Israel has agreed to daily four-hour pauses in fighting in northern Gaza to allow people to flee hostilities and for humanitarian aid to be let in.

Yet, within hours, Israel’s bombing campaign had targeted Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, and Israeli tanks had surrounded four other hospitals in the northern part of the besieged enclave.

Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, a senior fellow at the Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at the University of Oxford and an associate fellow at Chatham House, welcomed the humanitarian pause announcement but said it has gaping holes.

“In the immediate short term, what is clearly needed is a temporary suspension of activities, to allow humanitarian actors to transit safely, to allow people to [receive] this humanitarian assistance.”

“If this is only a pause to allow people to move from the north to south, it did not work in the past, it will not work in the future,” he said. “In four hours, people cannot come. They don’t have cars, they don’t have fuel. It’s not going to work.”

He said that a ceasefire, however, may be on the cards soon.

“There is mounting pressure on Israel now to open up for a real ceasefire, a real truce for a day or two or three. I think that is coming in the next few days,” said Siyam.