“Most of what was allowed in was limited to flour for bakeries,” Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, calling the handful of deliveries since Israel eased an 11-week blockade “nowhere near enough.”
A UN analysis projects that more than 14,000 children aged six months to five years could slip into acute malnutrition in the coming months if aid remains limited.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a convoy of about 90 trucks crossed from Israel on Wednesday – the first large movement since the blockade was lifted under intense international pressure.
“Yesterday, about 90 loaded trucks left the Kareem Shalom crossing to multiple destinations inside Gaza,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. “This shipment is limited in quantity and nowhere near sufficient to meet the scale and scope of the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million people.”
Humanitarian agencies say at least 500 trucks a day are required to cover basic needs, a level not seen since the war began in October 2023.
Israel, which announced the partial reopening of crossings this week, says the new aid flow will be channeled through distribution points in southern Gaza to prevent Hamas from seizing supplies.
OCHA estimates that nearly half a million Gazans are already “on the edge of starvation”.
Health officials say hospitals lack fuel for generators, while ready-to-use therapeutic food for children could run out within days. Aid groups have urged Israel to grant unfettered access via all crossings and to allow commercial supplies of fresh produce and fuel, calling current volumes “a race against time.”
Israel’s campaign, launched after Hamas killed 1,218 people and abducted 251 on Oct 7 2023, has left at least 53,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire population.
Fifty‑seven hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of them presumed dead, Israel says.
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Source: Polskie Radio 24, Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Guardian