Israel’s military said on Sunday that it would “pause” fighting around a south Gaza route daily to facilitate aid deliveries, following months of warnings of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The announcement of a “local, tactical pause of military activity” during daylight hours in an area of Rafah came a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near the city and three more troops died elsewhere, in one of the heaviest losses for the army in its war against Hamas militants.

UN agencies and aid groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm of dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip, exacerbated by overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized it in early May.

Israel has long defended its efforts to let aid into Gaza, including via its Kerem Shalom border near Rafah, blaming militants for looting supplies and humanitarian workers for failing to distribute them to civilians.

“A local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes will take place from 8am [0500 GMT] until 7pm [1600 GMT] every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah al-Din road and then northwards,” a military statement said.

A map released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed the declared humanitarian route extending until Rafah’s European Hospital, about six miles from Kerem Shalom.

The announcement came as Muslims the world over mark Eid al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice.

“This Eid is completely different,” said Umm Muhammad al-Katri in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.

“We’ve lost many people, there’s a lot of destruction. We don’t have the joy we usually have,” she told AFP.

Instead of a cheerful holiday spirit, “I came to the Eid prayers mourning. I’ve lost my son”.

Correspondents in Gaza said there were no reports of strikes, shelling or fighting on Sunday morning, although the military stressed in a statement there was “no cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.

The IDF said the pause was already in effect and part of efforts to “increase the volumes of humanitarian aid” following discussions with the UN and other organisations.

The United States, which has been pressing close ally Israel, as well as Hamas, to accept a ceasefire plan laid out by president Joe Biden, on Friday imposed sanctions on an extremist Israeli group for blocking and attacking Gaza-bound aid convoys.

The IDF said the eight soldiers killed Saturday were hit by an explosion as they were travelling in an armoured vehicle near Rafah, where troops were engaged in fierce street battles against Palestinian militants.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, IDF spokesman, said the blast was “apparently from an explosive device planted in the area or from the firing of an anti-tank missile”.

Separately, two soldiers were killed in fighting in northern Gaza and another succumbed to wounds inflicted in recent fighting.

Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, vowed to “continue our painful strikes against the enemy wherever it may be”.

Saturday’s losses brought the IDF’s overall toll to 309 deaths since it began its ground offensive in Gaza on Oct 27.