Flour and limited food aid began trickling into Gaza on Thursday after Israel allowed a small number of trucks through but Palestinian officials warned the deliveries fall far short of meeting urgent needs after an 11-week blockade.
Israel said it allowed 100 trucks also carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the restrictions under mounting international pressure.
Israel imposed the blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its members – a charge the group denies. The U.N. said a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people were at risk of famine.
"Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today," Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
He said just 90 trucks had gotten through. "During the cease-fire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing," he said.
Bakeries backed by the U.N.'s World Food Programme would produce the bread and the agency's staff would hand it out – a more controlled system than previously when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he added.
"The idea is to try and reach the most needy families, those who are desperate, as it is just the start," Shawa said.
As the first aid arrived since the blockade, Israeli military strikes on Gaza killed at least 35 Palestinians across the enclave Thursday, local health authorities said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. It has repeatedly claimed it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and targets resistance members.
In Beit Lahia on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the Health Ministry said. Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it added.
Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility.
The Gaza health care system has been barely functioning, with most of the medical facilities out of order, because of repeated Israeli military strikes, raids and the ban on the entry of medical supplies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday Israel would be open to a temporary cease-fire to enable the return of hostages taken to Gaza. But if they were not returned, he said, it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza.
"Netanyahu continues to stall and insist on pursuing the war. There is no value to any agreement that doesn't stop the massacres in Gaza permanently," senior Hamas official Sami Ab Zuhri said in response to Netanyahu's comments.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursion that caused around 1,200 deaths and captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's genocidal war, in comparison, has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,600 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza health authorities.
