No aid has been distributed yet in Gaza, UN says

By Michelle Nichols and Emma Farge

No aid has yet been distributed in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said on Tuesday, a day after Israel allowed limited humanitarian deliveries to resume after an 11-week blockade on the Palestinian enclave, where experts warn famine now looms.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said four trucks of baby food were dropped off on the Palestinian side of the border on Monday, and that a few dozen trucks of flour, medicine, nutrition supplies and other basic items entered Gaza on Tuesday.

"Israeli authorities are requiring us to offload supplies on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing and reload them separately once they secure our team's access from inside the Gaza Strip," Dujarric told reporters.

"Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kerem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva said Israel had given permission for about 100 aid trucks to enter Gaza.

U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Monday the initial amount of aid approved by Israel was "a drop in the ocean".

Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas and to control the whole of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas' cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian militants from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.

A U.S.-backed group plans to start work in the Gaza Strip by the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave. But the United Nations says the plan is not impartial or neutral, and it will not be involved.

Malnutrition rates in the densely populated territory have risen during the Israeli blockade and could worsen if food shortages continue, a health official at the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said in Geneva on Tuesday.

"I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise," said Akihiro Seita, UNRWA Director of Health. "And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control."