UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher stated the Israeli authorities had allowed the limited resumption of aid delivery after intensifying its military offensive.
“This is a welcome development that should remain in place,” Fletcher said in a statement.
“But it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed, and significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza, starting tomorrow morning,” he added.
According to the UN, Gaza needs at least 500 aid trucks per day to meet the population’s basic needs.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced five trucks, including food for babies, entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom — the first such delivery since March 2.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that nine trucks were “cleared to enter” via Kerem Shalom and are in the process of crossing. He said the trucks were carrying mostly nutrition supplies.
“They’ve crossed from Israel proper into the area from which the UN can pick the supplies up in Gaza. That part has not yet happened — given it’s late in the day, it’s very likely already dark, or soon to be dark there. Because of security concerns, we cannot operate under those conditions and pick them up,” he told reporters during a press briefing.
“Of course, nine trucks is better than no trucks, but we need a massive uptick in humanitarian aid,” Dujarric continued, adding, “We need a massive arrival of food, cooking oil, and fuel to meet these needs.”
Israel has kept all crossings into Gaza closed since March 2, deepening the enclave’s humanitarian crisis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that a “basic quantity of food” would be allowed in to prevent a hunger crisis.
Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Israel has not allowed any humanitarian aid into Gaza for nearly 80 days, the Gaza Media Office said Monday, warning that a crippling blockade and systematic starvation threaten the lives of 2.4 million Palestinians.
“No genuine aid has entered the Gaza Strip for more than 80 days under a complete siege and worsening famine,” the office announced in a statement.
It added that Israeli forces have fully closed all border crossings and “have not permitted a single grain of wheat to enter for nearly three months.”
The statement described the situation as “a deliberate policy of starvation targeting 2.4 million unarmed civilians.”
It stressed Israel has claimed to allow only nine trucks loaded with nutritional supplements for children to enter Gaza — representing just 0.02% of the approximately 44,000 aid trucks that should have reached the Gaza Strip since the blockade intensified on March 2.
Gaza requires around 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of its population, the statement read.
The office held Israel and the international community “fully responsible for this ongoing humanitarian crime,” calling for immediate international intervention to open all border crossings unconditionally and allow the entry of essential aid “before it’s too late.”
