Israel has claimed that more than 120 lorry loads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in Gaza on the first day of a partial pause in fighting.
However, UN agencies did not confirm the amount of aid, while residents reported supplies being taken from trucks before reaching warehouses.
According to the World Food Programme calculations, Gaza requires about 500 to 600 aid lorries a day − or 1,000 to 1,500 daily at peak need − to prevent famine.
“Over 120 lorries were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organisations,” COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry agency, said in a post on X on Monday.
The World Health Organisation warned on Sunday that malnutrition was reaching “alarming levels” in Gaza. It said that of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 had occurred in July − including 24 children aged under five, one child older than five and 38 adults.
Despite that, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that starvation is happening in the Palestinian territory, which has been under Israeli bombardment for more than 21 months.
“There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza,” he claimed in a speech.
On Sunday, Israel declared a “tactical” pause in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid.
The World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 were “enduring famine-like conditions.”
The exiled head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Al Hayya, has called on the people of the neighbouring countries to march towards the Palestinian territories by land and sea and to cause disruptions near embassies in support of people in Gaza.
“We specifically call upon our Arab and Islamic peoples, particularly those in the countries neighbouring Palestine, to march towards Palestine by land and sea, besiege embassies and activate the economic and tourism boycott of everything related to the enemy and its interests,” Mr Al Hayya said in a speech on Sunday night.
He said ceasefire talks were “meaningless” under continued starvation and Israeli blockade.
