By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Olivia Le Poidevin
CAIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) -A long-term steady supply of aid is needed to counter the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, U.N. agencies said on Monday after mounting pressure prompted Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel carried out an air drop and announced a series of measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza and new safe corridors for aid convoys, after images of starving children alarmed the world.
On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war’s death toll from hunger to 147, including 89 children, most in just the last few weeks.
The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched but that this amount fell short of Gaza’s needs.
“Sixty is definitely not enough. So our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters.
The WFP said that almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments.
“I cannot say that in a week we will be able to really avert the risks. It has to be something continuous and scalable,” AbdelJaber said.
LOOTING
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said aid supply would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting in Gaza.
The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that over 120 trucks were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the U.N. and international organizations.
But some of those trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.
“Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed,” said Emad, 58, who used to own a wood factory in Gaza City.
More aid was expected to flow in on Monday. Qatar said in a statement it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into Gaza.
Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May.
Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s people.
“Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bald-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.
He added that with the newly announced measures, it was up to the U.N. to deliver the aid.
United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Sunday that some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased by Israel.
A senior WFP official said on Sunday that the agency needs quick approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage of the humanitarian pauses in fighting.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million.
Indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Olivia Le Poidevin and Maayan LubellEditing by Peter Graff)
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