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At least 300 lorries laden with humanitarian assistance crossed into Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, hours after a 42-day truce in the war on the Palestinian enclave took hold, sources told The National.
They said some of the lorries used a dirt road to cross an area of no man's land between the Gaza and Egypt sides of the Rafah crossing, avoiding the main road that had been damaged in the fighting. Others drove into Gaza using the nearby, Israeli-run Karam Abu Salem crossing.
The humanitarian convoy, which included 30 fuel tankers, is heading for southern Gaza, the sources added.
The World Food Programme said its lorries have started entering Gaza through the Zikim and Karam Abu Salem crossings.
The UN humanitarian aid co-ordinator said convoys carrying aid were heading towards the enclave. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said 4,000 lorries loaded with food and wheat were ready to enter Gaza.
“UNRWA teams are on the ground and ready to deliver vital aid to shelters and those in dire need as soon as it is allowed to enter,” Inas Hamdan, UNRWA's spokeswoman in Gaza, told The National. “The people of Gaza are in desperate need of everything – and even the smallest improvement will make a significant difference. We are prepared to act immediately once the aid flow begins, ensuring that life-saving assistance reaches the population in Gaza."
The aid supplies will be protected by armed members of the Gaza police force, they said, with distribution overseen by relief agencies and UN employees.
Under the provisions of the Gaza ceasefire deal announced on Wednesday, 600 lorries carrying relief supplies – including 50 with fuel – will enter Gaza daily, 100 more each day than Palestinians in Gaza required before the war obliterated at least 65 per cent of the strip's infrastructure.
Aid agencies previously told The National that 600 lorries a day would not be nearly enough to feed two million starving Gazans.
More than a year after Israel launched its war on Gaza, the UN warned that 91 per cent of the strip's population of 2.3 million would face food insecurity.
The war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 after an attack on southern Israel by fighters from Hamas and other groups who killed 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage. Israel's military response has killed about 46,900 Palestinians, Gaza's health authorities said, with more than twice that number injured.
Most of the enclave's residents have been displaced by the fighting, many of them several times over, and many built-up areas have been reduced to rubble.
