At least 60 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said today, Beta news agency reported.
Israel is facing growing international criticism over its latest offensive and is under pressure to release aid into Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis is described as catastrophic.
The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for almost three months, and experts warn that many of Gaza's two million residents are starving, Beta reports.
Israel has said it will continue attacks on Hamas until it frees all 58 Israelis held hostage by Hamas, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and until it "destroys" Hamas.
Israeli authorities announced today that 107 more trucks with humanitarian aid have arrived in the Gaza Strip, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reports.
Trucks carrying flour, food, medical equipment and medicines entered the closed zone on Thursday, the Israeli Authority for Palestinian Affairs, COGAT, said.
On Monday, May 19, Israel lifted its blockade on aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. It had previously not allowed any deliveries since early March, accusing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which the United States and the European Union (EU) have designated as a terrorist organization, of reselling supplies to finance its fighters and weapons.
The United Nations (UN) and aid agencies are warning of famine in Gaza. Aid workers say the amounts that have arrived in Gaza this week are nowhere near enough to alleviate the suffering of the population.
They also described difficulties in distributing aid.
"Significant challenges in loading and shipping goods persist due to insecurity, risks of looting, delays in coordinating clearances, and inappropriate routes provided by Israeli forces that are not sustainable for the movement of cargo," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
The UN says 500 trucks a day need to enter to feed the approximately two million people in Gaza.
Guterres: Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustainable access to aid, more people will die
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that Israel had approved only "a teaspoon of aid when a flood of aid is needed" for Gaza, and signaled again that the UN would not participate in a new US-backed distribution plan, Reuters reported.
"Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained access to aid, more people will die, and the long-term consequences for entire populations will be profound," Guterres told reporters.
Reuters reports that Israel says about 300 aid trucks have entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing since it lifted an 11-week blockade of Gaza on Monday, but Guterres said so far only about a third of those trucks have been transported from the crossing to warehouses inside Gaza due to insecurity.
Israel has allowed aid deliveries by the UN and other aid groups to continue briefly until a new US-backed distribution model – run by the newly created Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza (HFG) – becomes operational by the end of the month. The UN says the plan is not impartial or neutral and will not be included.
Israel has said its blockade was partly aimed at preventing Palestinian militants from Hamas from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied aiding in the theft. The HFG plan involves using private security contractors to transport aid to so-called safe hubs for distribution by civilian aid teams.
"The United Nations has been clear: we will not participate in any scheme that does not respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality," Guterres said.
The United Nations and its partners have a plan to bring needed aid to Gaza, he said.
"The supplies - 160.000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9.000 trucks - are waiting. This is my appeal for life-saving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza: let's do it right. And let's do it now," Guterres said.
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