A total of 198 trucks have entered Gaza but have not yet unloaded the humanitarian aid.

BarcelonaA total of 198 trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since Monday through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva confirmed to Efe on Thursday. Two and a half months of absolute blockade on the entry of food, water, medicineIf other resources, on Monday Israel authorized the entry of trucks, but until Wednesday night none of the vehicles that had entered the Strip had unloaded humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza. On Monday the UN had warned that fUp to 14,000 babies could die if they did not receive help within the next 48 hoursThe material in these 198 trucks, once it can reach the population, will still be completely insufficient: under normal conditions, Gaza needs about 700 trucks a day, and now the needs are much higher.

This Thursday morning, however, it seemed that distribution would finally begin. "Some bakeries will start receiving flour to produce bread, and we hope that bread distribution will begin later today," Amyad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, told Reuters this Thursday morning. He said that only 90 trucks had come through. Bread ovens supporting the UN's World Food Programme would produce the bread, and agency staff would distribute it, he explained, a more controlled system than before, when bakers sold it directly to the public at low cost. "The idea is to try to reach the neediest families, those who are desperate, as this is only the beginning," Shawa said.

Of the 198 trucks that have entered the Strip, 90 have already been received by various humanitarian organizations and associations for distribution of their contents—which include nutritional products, medicines, and flour—according to UN spokesman Jens Laerke. "Significant difficulties persist in loading and distributing goods due to insecurity, the risk of looting, delays in coordination approvals [with the Israeli army], and inadequate routes provided by Israeli forces, which are not viable for the movement of cargo," Laerke warned.

Israel had blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2, before unilaterally breaking the latest ceasefire, which, together with the strong military offensive, is raising the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory to unsustainable levels. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned last week that half a million Palestinians were at risk of famine due to Israel's "deliberate blockade" of Gaza, and 57 children have already died of malnutrition so far in March.

Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip following Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, has resulted in the deaths of 16,503 children, including more than 900 infants under one year old, the enclave's Health Ministry reported Thursday.