First aid trucks enter Gaza after nearly three months of Israel’s blockade

The first aid trucks have entered Gaza following nearly three months of Israel’s complete blockade, according to Israel and the United Nations.

Five trucks carrying aid including baby food entered the territory of more than two million Palestinians via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday, according to the Israeli defence body in charge of co-ordinating aid to Gaza.

The UN called it a “welcome development” but said much more aid is needed to address the humanitarian crisis.

Food security experts last week warned of famine as a result of the Israeli blockade.

Israel cut off all food, medicine and other supplies to the territory to pressure Hamas over ceasefire terms.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said his decision to resume limited, “basic” aid to Gaza came after pressure from allies who said they could not support Israel’s renewed military offensive if there are “images of hunger” coming from the Palestinian territory.

The Trump administration has voiced full support for Israel’s actions and blames Hamas for the toll on Palestinians, though in recent days it has expressed growing concern over the hunger crisis.

President Donald Trump – who missed Israel on his trip to the region last week – voiced concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as did Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said on a visit to Turkey that he was “troubled” by it.

The UN humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said the few trucks were a “drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed”. He said an additional four UN trucks were cleared to enter Gaza. Those trucks may enter tomorrow, according to Cogat (Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the Territories).

During the ceasefire, some 600 aid trucks entered Gaza each day.

Mr Fletcher added that given the chaotic situation on the ground, the UN expects the aid could be looted or stolen.

He urged Israel to open multiple crossings in northern and southern Gaza to permit a regular flow of aid.

Still, the announcement raised hope among Palestinians that more desperately needed food, medicine and other supplies would enter.

Israel over the weekend launched a new wave of air and ground operations across Gaza, and the army ordered the evacuation of its second-largest city, Khan Younis, where Israel carried out a massive operation earlier in the 19-month war that left much of the area in ruins.

Israel says its offensive is a bid to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages abducted in the October 7 2023, attack that ignited the war. Hamas has said it will release them only in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pull-out.

Mr Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel plans on “taking control of all of Gaza”, as well as establishing a new system to distribute aid that circumvents Hamas.

He has said Israel also will encourage what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of Gaza’s population to other countries.

The foreign ministers of Germany, Italy, Japan and 18 other countries called for Israel to fully reopen humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza from the UN and non-governmental organisations.

The leaders said the proposal approved by Israel’s security cabinet and the one backed by the US is not one that their “humanitarian partners can support”.

“Whilst we acknowledge indications of a limited restart of aid, Israel blocked humanitarian aid entering Gaza for over two months,” the joint statement read.

“Food, medicines and essential supplies are exhausted. The population faces starvation. Gaza’s people must receive the aid they desperately need.”

The statement said they have two messages for Israel: “Allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity.”

It came as the UK, France and Canada threatened “concrete actions” against Israel, including sanctions, for its activities in Gaza and West Bank.

Their joint statement on Monday sharply criticizes Israel’s decision to allow a limited, “basic” amount of aid into Gaza after nearly three months of the Israeli blockade as “wholly inadequate.”

The statement also called on Israel to stop its “egregious” new military actions in Gaza and to allow in humanitarian aid immediately .

The statement came shortly after Israel and the United Nations said the first few trucks of aid had entered Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu condemned the joint statement and called it “a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7”.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.