Aid groups have collected some supplies from Gaza crossing, says UN
Aid groups have collected humanitarian aid carried by about 90 trucks, out of a total of nearly 200 that have entered Gaza since Israel began allowing limited goods in earlier this week, the United Nations said.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian agency OCHA, said the trucks that entered carried medicine, wheat flour and nutrition supplies.
Aid groups faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, Mr Laerke added.
Workers unload cargo from a truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip at the offload area of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza (Leo Correa/AP)
Under international pressure, Israel has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other material for nearly three months.
But the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.
Also on Thursday, international leaders were reacting to the shooting of two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC the previous day.
The attack was seen by officials in Israel and the US as the latest in a growing wave of antisemitism as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Japan's Foreign Ministry says it has made 'a severe protest' to Israel over its military's firing of warning shots at a diplomatic delegation including Japanese diplomats that was visiting a refugee camp in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Palestinians inspect a house destroyed by an Israeli airstrikes in Deir al-Balah, Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
Vice-minister for Foreign Affairs Takehiro Funakoshi summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, to request a full explanation and preventive measures.
Mr Fukakoshi told Mr Gilad the incident was 'deeply regrettable and should not have happened'.
Mr Funakoshi also reiterated Japan's strong concern over Israel's attempted reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the expansion of military operations, urging it to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid into Gaza, the foreign ministry said.
Mr Funakoshi also offered his condolences on the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC, stating that 'terrorism is not tolerated anywhere in the world'.
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