An official at a Jordanian government-affiliated charity has said that aid airdrops over Gaza have stopped, without providing a reason for the change.
Several foreign countries had joined operations coordinated by the Jordanian military since late July to parachute parcels of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where the UN has declared famine after nearly two years of war.
The airdrops, which aid groups have said were insufficient and could not replace land access, took place with Israeli approval. The last airdrop took place on 26 August.
Hussein Al-Shebli, head of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, told AFP that the airdrops had been suspended "in recent days", without elaborating.
A Jordanian government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that unspecified "Israeli obstacles" were behind the change.
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The source said Jordan was ready to resume the airdrop operations "if the Israeli obstacles are removed".
Israel's Kan public broadcaster reported on Sunday that the airdrops had been suspended "until further notice".
The Israeli broadcaster said Egypt and Jordan, which led the aid effort, decided to stop it "for their own reasons", adding that no country had submitted new requests to parachute aid into Gaza.
Mr Shebli said "work is underway" to arrange other ways to deliver much-needed aid into Gaza.
According to the Jordanian military, since 27 July there had been 400 airdrops over Gaza with tonnes of humanitarian supplies.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly called on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza by land, while Israel has blamed shortages on mismanagement of supplies on the ground and looting.
The halt to airdrop operations coincides with an intensified Israeli military offensive around Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre.
At least 21,000 children disabled in Gaza war - UN
A United Nations committee said at least 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since the war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, .
Around 40,500 children have suffered "new war-related injuries" in the nearly two years since, with more than half of them left disabled, said the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Reviewing the situation in the Palestinian territories, it said Israeli evacuation orders during the army's offensive in Gaza were "often inaccessible" to people with hearing or visual impairments, "rendering evacuation impossible".
"Reports also described people with disabilities being forced to flee in unsafe and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility assistance," it said.
Meanwhile the committee said the restrictions on humanitarian aid being brought into Gaza were disproportionately impacting the disabled.
"People with disabilities faced severe disruptions in assistance, leaving many without food, clean water, or sanitation and dependent on others for survival," it said.
While the controversial private US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has four distribution points across the territory, the UN system it has largely replaced had about 400.
Physical obstacles, such as war debris and the loss of mobility aids under the rubble, have further prevented people from reaching the relocated aid points.
The committee said 83% of disabled people had lost their assistive devices, with most unable to afford alternatives such as donkey carts.
It voiced concern that devices like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, splints and prosthetics were considered "dual-use items" by the Israeli authorities and were therefore not included in aid shipments.
The committee called for the delivery of "massive humanitarian aid to persons with disabilities" affected by the war, while insisting that all sides needed to adopt protection measures for the disabled to prevent "further violence, harm, deaths and deprivation of rights".
The committee said it had been informed of at least 157,114 people sustaining injuries, with over 25% at risk of life-long impairments, between 7 October, 2023 and 21 August this year.
It said there were "at least 21,000 children with disabilities in Gaza as a result of impairments, acquired since October 7, 2023".
It said Israel should adopt specific measures for protecting children with disabilities from attacks, and implement evacuation protocols that take into account persons with disabilities.
Israel should ensure disabled people are "allowed to return safely to their homes and are assisted in doing so", it added.
It comes as the Israeli military moved deeper into Gaza city, with soldiers and tanks pushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban centre's largest and most crowded neighbourhoods.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have advanced through Gaza city's outer suburbs and are now just a few kilometres from the city centre despite international calls to halt the offensive.
Residents in the city said the military had destroyed homes and tent encampments that had housed Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war.
At least 24 Palestinians, some of them children, were killed by the military across Gaza today, most of them in the city, according to local health officials.
"Sheikh Radwan is being burnt upside-down. The occupation destroyed houses, burnt tents, and drones played audio messages ordering people to leave the area," said 60-year-old Zakeya Sami, a mother of five, referring to the Israeli military.
"If the takeover of Gaza city isn't stopped, we might die, and we are not going to forgive anyone who stands and watches without doing anything to prevent our death," she said.
The military dropped grenades on three schools in the Sheikh Radwan area that had been used to shelter displaced Palestinians, setting tents ablaze, according to residents, who said the Palestinians fled before the bombing.
According to witnesses, the military also detonated armoured vehicles laden with explosives to destroy homes in Sheikh Radwan's east and bombed a medical clinic, destroying two ambulances.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it would continue to operate against "terrorists organisations" in Gaza and to "remove any threat" posed to the state of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take the city, which he describes as the last stronghold of Hamas.
Mr Netanyahu insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now only controls parts of the territory, must be defeated if it will not lay down its arms and surrender.
Israel's military has urged the country's political leadership to instead reach a ceasefire agreement, warning that the assault would endanger hostages held in Gaza and soldiers carrying out the offensive, Israeli officials previously said.
In Israel, public sentiment is largely in favour of ending the war in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages.
In Jerusalem, protesters climbed the roof of Israel's national library, displaying a banner that read 'You have abandoned and also killed'.
"We need our soldiers back home. We need our hostages back home now. It's been too long for them to stay there. Stop the war now," said 50-year-old Ravid Vexelbaum from Tel Aviv.
Mass displacement
Tens of thousands of reservists reported for duty yesterday to support the offensive, forces that a military official told reporters last month were mostly expected to take on non-combat roles, such as in intelligence, or take over from combat soldiers in places like the West Bank who could then be deployed to Gaza.
The attack on Gaza city threatens to displace one million Palestinians, almost half the population of Gaza.
The Israeli military in recent weeks has ordered the civilian population to leave their homes, although there are reports that many families who have already been displaced are refusing.
Over 63,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since October 2023, according to local health officials.
More than 360 people, including 131 children, are reported to have died of malnutrition and starvation caused by acute food shortages.
In August, the United Nations officially confirmed a famine in Gaza, blaming "systematic obstruction" of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.
All United Nations Security Council members, except the United States, have said the famine in Gaza was a "man-made crisis" and warned that the use of starvation as a weapon of war is banned under international humanitarian law.
Israeli officials acknowledge there is hunger in parts of Gaza but reject assertions of famine or starvation.
The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza.
There are 48 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom 20 are thought to be alive.
Accreditation: AFP/Reuters
