The UN says a new land route has been used to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks.
The Israeli military said six lorries from the World Food Programme crossed via a gate in the Gaza border fence.
Tuesday night’s delivery was “part of a pilot to prevent Hamas from taking over the aid”, it added.
It comes amid global pressure on Israel to allow more access to the Palestinian territory for aid amid a looming famine as it continues its war on Hamas.
A boat carrying 200 tonnes of food aid for distribution by a charity also set sail from Cyprus on Tuesday, inaugurating a new maritime corridor into the Palestinian territory. It is expected to arrive on Thursday off Gaza’s coast, where a jetty is being built.
Senior UN officials welcomed the initiative, but noted that “for aid delivery at scale there is no meaningful substitute to the many land routes and entry points from Israel into Gaza”.
Israel insists there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and across Gaza and blames UN agencies for failing to distribute supplies.
The war began when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages. More than 31,200 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
The UN says at least 576,000 Palestinians in Gaza – one quarter of the population – are one step away from famine.
It warns that time is running out for the estimated 300,000 people with little food or clean water in the north of the territory, which UN agencies have struggled to access for several months.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says 27 people, including 23 children, have died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration at hospitals there.
UN officials said the World Food Programme (WFP) convoy was able to use an Israeli military road that runs along the Gaza border fence to reach the north and deliver enough food for 25,000 people – about 88 tonnes of food parcels and wheat flour – to Gaza City after nightfall on Tuesday.
WFP spokeswoman Shaza Moghraby said the delivery proved that “moving food by road is possible”.
“We are hoping to scale up, we need access to be regular and consistent especially with people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine,” she told Reuters news agency. “We need entry points directly to the north.”
Source:Fiilafmonline/BBC
