An official told the Associated Press that Israel intends to stop or reduce humanitarian aid access to northern Gaza in the coming days as its military operations expand following the declaration of Gaza City as a “combat zone.”

The Associated Press reported on Saturday, August 30, that an informed official, who declined to be named, said Israel will stop or slow humanitarian aid deliveries to parts of northern Gaza Strip in the coming days, coinciding with the expansion of its military offensive after declaring Gaza City a “combat zone.”

The official explained that Israel will end airdrops of aid over Gaza City within days and will reduce truck entries into the north, while preparing to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents southward.

Israel had ended daytime ceasefires on Friday that were designated for aid delivery, justifying the move by considering Gaza City a stronghold of Hamas and home to a tunnel network still in use.

However, the United Nations and its partners emphasized that the limited ceasefires, airdrops, and other measures were far from sufficient compared to the actual need for 600 aid trucks daily for Gaza’s population.

In recent days, the Israeli army intensified strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, while global food security experts declared the area to have entered a famine phase. By Saturday, no airdrops of aid had been recorded for several days, after being nearly daily.

Meanwhile, Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned in a statement that any mass evacuation of Gaza City would cause “a massive population movement that no area in the Strip can absorb,” pointing to widespread infrastructure destruction and severe shortages of food, water, shelter, and medical care. She added that such an evacuation is impossible to carry out safely and with dignity.

In a related development, the Israeli army launched airstrikes on sites in Gaza City including a residential building, a popular bakery, and a tent west of the city, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

The Gaza Health Ministry announced that hospitals in the Strip received 88 dead and 421 injured in the past 24 hours.

Sources in Gaza hospitals confirmed that 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire since dawn today, including 16 aid seekers.