The decision will likely bring more international condemnation of Israel's government as frustration grows over the dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the territory's north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids on the area.
The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other recent measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that the remains of a hostage that Israel said Friday had been recovered in Gaza were of Idan Shtivi.
He was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized. Israel believes 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
"Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder," Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
In recent days, Israel's military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
It was not clear when the pause or halt in aid deliveries would begin.
By Saturday, there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from the almost daily drops over the past few weeks.
Israel's army didn't respond to a request for comment about the airdrops or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza's population of over two million people.
The Red Cross has warned against Israel's evacuation of Palestinians.
"Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care," said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their few remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts.
Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Also Saturday, Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Gaza's Health Ministry said 15 people were killed and at least 206 others wounded seeking aid over the past 24 hours.
The Health Ministry also said 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many of the dead are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children.
