Title: Israel Pushes Ahead with Aid Convoy to Gaza Amid Growing Humanitarian Crisis
Days after an aid delivery in Gaza turned into a deadly disaster, Israel pushed ahead with another convoy bound for northern Gaza on Sunday, a Palestinian businessman involved in the initiative said. The United Nations warned that deaths of children and infants are likely to “rapidly increase” if food and medical supplies are not delivered immediately.
Izzat Aqel, the businessman, said the renewed aid delivery effort on Sunday came after only one of at least 16 trucks carrying supplies to the north a day earlier made it to Gaza City. The rest had been surrounded by desperate Gazans and emptied in the Nuseirat neighborhood in central Gaza.
COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries into Gaza, said on Sunday that 277 trucks entered Gaza, the highest number of trucks to enter the enclave in a single day since the start of the war. Delivering supplies into Gaza, especially the north, has taken on increased urgency as the United Nations warns of a looming famine.
Israeli officials have worked with Gazan businessmen to organize private aid convoys, but a recent convoy ended in devastation with over 100 Palestinians killed. Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, urging Hamas to agree to a six-week pause and for Israel to increase aid flow into the enclave.
Gaza’s health ministry reported 15 children dying from malnutrition and dehydration at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north. The United Nations and aid agencies stress the need for a cease-fire to reach isolated Gazans. Talks in Cairo continued, but a breakthrough seemed distant.
The threat of famine looms as fighting persists in Gaza. An Israeli strike near a hospital in Rafah killed at least 11 people, including health care workers. The repercussions of the war continue to ripple across the region, with a British-owned cargo ship sinking in the Red Sea after being damaged in a missile attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
The situation in Gaza remains dire, with the need for immediate humanitarian aid growing more urgent by the day.
