About 90 truckloads of aid had entered Gaza by Thursday, according to the United Nations, the first major influx of food that Israel has allowed in after a two-month blockade that deepened the humanitarian crisis in the territory.
The U.N. humanitarian affairs office and the Israeli military both confirmed that the aid deliveries were reaching warehouses and other points inside Gaza after days of delays. But aid officials said the shipment was a tiny fraction of what was needed.
“Desperately needed aid is finally trickling in — but the pace is far too slow. We need more aid trucks coming in daily,” the World Food Program, one of the main U.N. agencies operating in Gaza, wrote on social media.
Israel’s two-month ban on the entry of food and fuel led to widespread hunger in the enclave, which has been devastated by more than a year of war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israel justified the ban as an attempt to force Hamas to surrender and release the remaining hostages. Israeli officials have asserted that Hamas has largely diverted or made money off aid deliveries, a claim disputed by international aid groups.
Israel conditioned the resumption of assistance on the United Nations signing off on a new mechanism in which they would distribute relief in areas under Israeli security control. The U.N. and many other aid nonprofits refused, saying it would fundamentally compromise their work.
After weeks of rising international pressure, Israel announced on Sunday that it would let U.N. agencies send small amounts of food into the enclave under the old system. But wrangling between Israel and the United Nations further delayed the provision of aid for days.
OCHA, the U.N. agency that coordinates humanitarian relief, said Israel had stipulated that their trucks take an extremely perilous route through Gaza. U.N. officials believed that unless the plans were changed, looting was “highly likely” to ensue, the agency said.
A spokesman for the Israeli military agency that works with the aid agencies — known as COGAT — did not respond to a request for comment.
During the aid blockade, local bakeries supported by the World Food Program had been forced to shut down. On Thursday, some bakeries in central and southern Gaza resumed production for the first time since April 2, according to Abed Alnasser al-Ajrami, head of the Gaza Bakers Association.
The bread in these areas is now being distributed for free by the World Food Program and other U.N. agencies, Mr. al-Ajrami said. But in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza, there were large crowds rushing to collect the bread, raising safety concerns for the bakery workers, he added.
Israeli officials have said they hope to set up the new aid system in Gaza, bypassing the United Nations, in the coming days.
In a televised news conference on Wednesday night, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, vowed once again to escalate the war imminently unless Hamas agreed to Israel’s conditions for a cease-fire.
Palestinians would be evacuated to a “sterile zone” that would be “Hamas free” in southern Gaza, where humanitarian aid would be provided, he said.
“At the end of the effort, all areas of the Gaza Strip will be under Israel’s security control — and Hamas will be totally defeated,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
In northern Gaza, attacks by Israeli ground forces damaged Al-Awda Hospital, according to the hospital director, Dr. Mohammad Salha.
He said the facility had come under repeated attacks by Israeli tank fire and gunfire since Wednesday without prior warning or coordination. A fire engulfed the central warehouse for medical supplies and spread to outpatient tents run by international humanitarian organizations.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hospital.
The facility has been struck more than 20 times during the war. It has now run out of supplies and cannot admit new patients, the director said.
