Eyewitnesses say first aid convoys have reached people in Gaza
The first aid deliveries have reached the population of the Gaza Strip after an almost three-month blockade by Israel, during which humanitarian organizations warned of acute levels of hunger.
A total of 87 lorries carrying flour, food and medical supplies drove overnight into the coastal area's interior, said Jihad Islim, the vice president of the Association of Private Freight Forwarders in Gaza.
They headed towards the locations of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, he added. A UN spokesman spoke of about 90 lorries and confirmed the contents of the deliveries.
Some bakeries in these locations began baking bread with the received flour at dawn and distributing it to the residents, bakery owners and other eyewitnesses reported.
Aid to Gaza still inadequate despite blockade easing
However, local and international aid workers emphasized that the quantities that have arrived so far are just a drop in the ocean.
According to previous UN information, around 500 lorry deliveries would be needed daily to ensure the supply for the approximately 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, said that no aid has yet reached the north of Gaza, where the need is particularly dire. The lorries that have arrived so far represent only a fraction of the essential needs, he added.
Israel lifted the nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian aid on Sunday, but some of the lorries allowed into the sealed-off coastal area afterwards stood for days within the Gaza Strip near the border crossing because the route proposed for them was too dangerous, according to the UN.
Israel justified the blockade with the claim that the Palestinian militant organization Hamas would steal the aid supplies and sell them on the black market to finance its fighters and weapons.
The UN counters that Israel has not provided any evidence for this.
Palestinians report more than 50 killed in Gaza Strip
At least 50 people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Wednesday night, the Hamas-controlled civil defence agency reported.
The Israeli military issued a directive to residents in the north of the region to leave their homes, as its troops were operating with massive force in Beit Lahia, the Jabaliya refugee camp and other residential areas between the region's northern border and Gaza City.
It said that terrorist organizations in the areas were developing "terrorist activities" in these areas. The message was broadcast in Arabic in text messages to mobile phones and via X.
The Israeli military had issued similar messages to residents of neighbouring areas on Wednesday.
The current conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other Palestinian extremists invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostage.
Israel responded with a massive attack, which has since killed more than 53,700 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
The figures do not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties, but international organizations such as the UN consider them to be largely credible.
Hamas health authority: 16,500 minors killed in Gaza war
More than 16,500 minors have been killed since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, the authority also reported on Thursday.
The authority put the number of babies killed at more than 900, and the number of children between the ages of 1 and 13 at more than 11,000. It also published a list of names, identity card numbers and birth dates to back up its figures.
The details cannot currently be independently verified.
According to UN figures, almost half the territory's residents are younger than 18.
Israel previously reported around 20,000 militants were killed by its military campaign. This figure can also not be independently verified.
Reports: Netanyahu government withdrawing all negotiators from Qatar
The Israeli government is to withdraw its entire negotiating team from talks in Doha aimed at achieving a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
High-level members of the team had been recalled to Israel on Tuesday, with only members of the working-level team remaining in the Qatari capital, according to information from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
The families of the hostages still held in Gaza expressed strong criticism of the move.
Points of conflict between the parties include that Hamas is demanding the end to hostilities in exchange for releasing the remaining hostages.
Israel will only agree to this if Hamas lays down its arms and its leadership leaves the Gaza Strip. Hamas has rejected these demands.
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