UN agency says 'no significant change' in Gaza aid
(FILES) Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 19 February 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. The UN children's agency UNICEF has warned that the alarming lack of food, surging malnutrition and disease could lead to an "explosion" in child deaths in Gaza. One in six children aged under two in Gaza was acutely malnourished, it estimated on 19 February.
MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday there had been "no significant change" in the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA said in a statement that "181 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza per day" through land crossings from Israel and Egypt so far in April.
It said this "remains well below the operational capacity of both border crossings and the target of 500 trucks per day."
Last week Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Israel planned to "flood Gaza with aid" and increase deliveries to 500 truckloads per day.
The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for coordinating Palestinian affairs, COGAT, said 126 trucks entered the northern Gaza Strip overnight, and that 237 trucks entered Gaza on Monday.
For months, aid groups and foreign governments including top ally the United States have urged Israel to reopen border crossings into northern Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis is reported to be most severe.
The October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,843 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.