Food and Other Vital Aid Surges Into Gaza After 15 Months of Scarcity

The amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza surged dramatically on Sunday, with more than 630 trucks entering the impoverished and hungry enclave on the first day of the cease-fire, according to United Nations officials — the highest figure since the start of the war more than 15 months ago.

The truce allowed the U.N. World Food Program to “bring in urgently needed food aid at scale and begin pulling the war-ravaged territory back from starvation,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. relief chief, said in a statement on Monday that more than 300 of the trucks went to northern Gaza, where aid had been the most scarce and humanitarian officials have warned of a possible famine.

During the war, fewer than 100 trucks per day had been entering the enclave, and deliveries had at times been suspended. Relief agencies accused Israel of overly restricting deliveries with stringent inspections and the closure of border crossings, which Israel denied, and have said that at least 200 trucks per day were required to provide food, medicines, fuel, clean water and other essentials.

With the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas taking effect, aid convoys seemed to enter Gaza without issues, and no attempts at stealing or looting the aid were reported on Sunday or Monday, according to Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the main U.N. agency that assists Palestinians. She added that local police officers were present in some parts of Gaza to secure the convoys, while in other areas security was not needed.

Uniformed police officers and armed fighters, rarely seen in the open during the war, were visible in cities and towns across Gaza after the cease-fire took effect. It was an apparent show by Hamas, which had controlled the enclave for years, that it is still in charge and plans to hold onto power.

Videos posted to social media showed convoys driving through Gaza on Sunday, as people gathered calmly on roadsides, refraining from approaching the trucks. It was a stark contrast to the apocalyptic scenes of wartime aid deliveries, when desperate crowds swarmed and climbed onto the trucks in hopes of securing a food package or bag of flour, sometimes resulting in violence.