Israel has granted the United Nations permission to enter the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza for about 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, a spokesman for the world organization in Geneva announced today.
Nine trucks of United Nations humanitarian aid were granted permission to enter the Gaza Strip yesterday, the head of UN humanitarian operations said, calling it a "drop in the ocean" after 11 weeks of a total Israeli blockade.
So far, five of these trucks have crossed the Kerem Shalom border crossing, after which they were taken over by UN officials, said UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Lance Laerke at a press conference in Geneva.
When Israeli forces allow trucks to pass into the Gaza Strip, they are taken over by UN teams, who are then tasked with transporting them and distributing aid.
The World Food Programme is responsible for four of the five trucks, and Unicef for the fifth, it was announced.
"The next phase is to take them over, then distribute the aid through the existing system, which has already passed checks," Lerke said.
He said they had requested and received permission to send many more trucks today, and that they hoped that a large number of them, perhaps all of them, would cross the border today.
He specified that there were about 100 trucks, but he still did not know exactly when these trucks would be able to enter the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations and other international humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip have been pointing out shortages of everything in the territory for weeks.
According to a May 12 report by the food security organization IPC, Gaza is facing a "critical risk of famine."
The head of the World Health Organization said yesterday that two million people in Gaza are starving, while tons of food are blocked at the border.
Under foreign pressure over a blockade that is starving Palestinians in Gaza, Israel announced on Sunday that it would allow limited humanitarian aid deliveries to continue, in parallel with the launch of a major ground operation in Gaza.
But, due to the enormous needs of the population, humanitarian organizations estimate that it is necessary for many more than a dozen trucks to enter.
"The Gaza Strip has been under siege for 11 weeks now... and all we are doing today is trying to repair the damage that has already been done to many people," UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Waterridge told reporters via an online link from Amman, adding that "for many it is already too late."
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