Dozens of trucks of humanitarian aid for Gaza still sitting at border entry
Internal notes circulated among aid groups say trucks have yet to leave Kerem Shalom
Israel began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into Gaza, but the aid has not yet reached Palestinians in desperate need, according to aid groups.
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday evening that although the aid has entered Gaza, aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto separate trucks and workers ran out of time.
Internal notes circulated among aid groups Wednesday and seen by The Associated Press said that no humanitarian trucks had left Kerem Shalom, the border crossing in southern Gaza that is operated by Israel. The notes said 65 trucks moved from the Israel side of the crossing to the Palestinian side, but hadn't made it into Gaza.
The Israeli defence body that oversees humanitarian aid to Gaza said trucks were entering into Gaza on Wednesday morning, but it was unclear if that aid was able to continue into Gaza for distribution. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said they waited several hours to collect aid from the border crossing in order to begin distribution but were unable to do so on Tuesday.
"Every day the aid is delayed is difficult, the adults can handle it but the children can't," said Amin Al-Masry, 52, from his tent in Gaza City.
"The only hope people have is [that] the aid enters, people want to live."
He says aid hasn't entered the Gaza Strip in weeks, and that securing food has become the main concern of the people of Gaza.
Nearby his sister, Nahla, says she's heartbroken when her children ask her for food and she can't provide much for them. Her only hope is that flour enters the strip so she can make bread out of it to tide the kids over.
"Nothing is available," she said.
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation "yet more worrying and saddening."
"I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the new pope said during his first weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.
Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 45 people, including several women and a week-old infant. The fresh strikes come as Israel's war on Hamas shows no signs of relenting, despite a surge in international anger at Israel's widening offensive.
Israeli troops have also surrounded two of northern Gaza's last functioning hospitals, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week.
14 from same family killed
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continued to pound the territory. Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 45 people, including several women and a week-old infant.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel recently ordered new evacuations pending an expected expanded offensive, 24 people were killed, 14 of them from the same family. A week-old infant was killed in central Gaza.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes but has said it is targeting Hamas infrastructure and accused Hamas militants of operating from civilian areas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged world leaders to take immediate action to end Israel's siege on Gaza, issuing the appeal during a visit to Beirut.
"It is time to end the war of extermination against the Palestinian people. I reiterate that we will not leave, and we will remain here on the land of our homeland, Palestine," Abbas said, demanding the immediate entry of aid, the release of detainees, and a full withdrawal from Gaza.
On Tuesday, the U.K. suspended free trade talks with Israel over its intensifying assault, a step that came a day after the country, along with Canada and France promised concrete steps to prompt Israel to halt the war. Separately, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was reviewing an EU pact governing trade ties with Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza.
Kallas and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were among those demanding answers from Israel for a separate incident on Wednesday, as a group of diplomats came under fire while visiting Jenin, a city in the Israel-occupied West Bank. The diplomats, which included a high-ranking Italian official, were on a mission to observe the humanitarian situation in Jenin, which has been the site of Israel's widespread crackdown against West Bank militants since earlier this year.
The Israeli military said the delegation "deviated from the approved route" and Israeli soldiers fired warning shots to distance them from the area. The military apologized and said they will contact all of the countries involved in the visit.
Kallas said firing even warning shots was unacceptable and called on Israel to investigate.
No breakthrough in talks
Israel says it is prepared to stop the war once all the hostages taken by Hamas return home and Hamas is defeated, or is exiled and disarmed. Hamas says it is prepared to release the hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory and an end to the war. It rejects demands for exile and disarmament.
Israel called back its senior negotiating team from ceasefire talks in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday, saying it would leave lower-level officials in place instead.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians including several Canadian citizens, and abducting 251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
With files from Reuters and Mohamed El Saife