The Israeli military said it had paused military activity in parts of Gaza on Sunday to allow in international aid amid global outrage over the severe hunger faced by Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

The decision was a sharp reversal by Israel and followed growing international pressure over the dire conditions in Gaza, where nearly one in three people has not been eating for days on end, according to the United Nations World Food Program.

Aid agencies and many countries, including some of Israel’s traditional allies, say Israel is responsible for the desperate situation after first blocking and then restricting aid deliveries to Gaza for months.

Six Palestinians died of malnutrition-related causes over the past day, including two children, adding to a toll of more than 50 deaths in the past month, according to the Gaza health ministry. Doctors, nurses and medics tasked with caring for Gazans are themselves increasingly struggling to eat, and baby formula is in short supply.

Israel has blamed the United Nations and its partners, accusing them of failing to bring hundreds of truckloads of aid through Gaza’s border crossings. The United Nations says that while some aid is allowed in, Israel has throw up a maze of bureaucratic obstacles and frequently rejects requests to coordinate deliveries, in addition to other challenges.

Israeli officials had also argued for months that Hamas was diverting humanitarian aid. But Israeli military officials later said that they had no proof that Hamas was systematically stealing U.N. relief supplies.