THE UNITED NATIONS today said it has received permission to send some 100 trucks of aid into the war-shattered Gaza Strip, as humanitarian assistance trickled back into the territory.

It comes amid a warning from the UN humanitarian chief that up to 14,000 babies in Gaza could die if aid doesn’t reach them in time.

Aid first trickled into the Gaza Strip yesterday for the first time in more than two months, following widespread condemnation of Israel’s total blockade, which has sparked severe shortages of food and medicine.

However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto separate trucks and workers ran out of time.

After the first five trucks entered on Monday, dozens more began entering via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday afternoon, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said.

Cogat, the Israeli defence body that oversees humanitarian aid, said five trucks entered on Monday and 93 trucks entered on Tuesday. But Mr Dujarric said the UN confirmed only a few dozen trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that he was allowing aid in as a response to “images of mass starvation” that could undermine Israel’s war effort.

Leaders from the UK, France, and Canada condemned Israel’s actions, particularly the expanded offensive and the insufficient aid.

A coalition of 22 countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Japan, and Australia, issued a joint declaration urging that Gaza’s population receive the aid it desperately needs.

They warned of “concrete actions” if Israel didn’t ease its military operations. Netanyahu dismissed their statement, calling it a “huge prize” for Hamas.

Speaking earlier today, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that up to 14,000 babies in Gaza could die if aid doesn’t reach them in time.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Fletcher described the minimal aid Israel is allowing into Gaza as “a drop in the ocean” and entirely inadequate for the needs of the population.

While five aid trucks crossed into Gaza yesterday, Fletcher emphasized that these supplies, primarily baby food and nutrition, have not yet reached the communities in desperate need.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also remarked that none of the aid had been distributed due to safety concerns and darkness preventing operations in the designated zone.

“I want to save as many of these babies as we can in the next 48 hours,” Fletcher told the BBC.

He explained that the UN reached this estimate through the efforts of their teams on the ground, despite many having been killed.

These teams continue to assess needs at medical centres and schools throughout Gaza.

Meanwhile, the EU Foreign Affairs Council is meeting today to discuss the possibility of suspending a major trade agreement with Israel.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers would discuss a Dutch-led initiative to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a trade accord signed in 2000.

The proposal, spearheaded by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, is based on Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which allows for suspension if the EU determines that Israel is committing grave violations of human rights.

Israeli airstrikes

Gaza’s Civil Defence agency today reported that Israeli airstrikes overnight have killed at least 44 people across the region.

Agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that many of the dead were women and children.

Among the casualties, eight died in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, twelve were killed in a bombing of a house in Deir el-Balah, and another 15 were killed in an attack on a gas station near the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Nine more died in a strike on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp.

The Israeli military has yet to comment on these strikes.

Israel has escalated its military offensive in Gaza, claiming that the focus is on the defeat of Hamas, which governs the Palestinian territory.

It has conducted extensive ground operations and declared its intent to take control of Gaza entirely.

Israel called up tens of thousands of reservists before expanding its military offensive, and sent in ground troops on Sunday.

Israel’s security cabinet approved earlier this month a plan to expand the military operation, which one official said would include the “conquest” of Gaza and the displacement of its population.

The current conflict began with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in the abduction of 251 hostages.

Since Israel resumed its strikes on Gaza on 18 March, an estimated 3,340 people have been killed in Gaza, as the death toll in the region has surpassed 53,000.

- © AFP 2025