UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICE SAYS AROUND 100 AID TRUCKS APPROVED TO ENTER GAZA

GENEVA, May 20 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The United Nations (UN) humanitarian affairs office on Tuesday said the entry of around 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza marked a significant increase from the nine cleared the day before.

"We have requested and received approval for more trucks to enter today. Many more than were approved yesterday," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

"And we expect, of course, with that approval, many of them—hopefully all of them—to cross today to a point where they can be picked up and get further into the Gaza Strip for distribution," Laerke said.

When asked for a specific number, he said the figure was "around 100."

The announcement came a day after just nine aid trucks were cleared for entry into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday—a number that OCHA and other aid groups have repeatedly said is far below what is needed to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Gaza's population.

Of the nine trucks cleared Monday, Laerke said only five were actually able to move into Gaza due to logistical challenges at the crossing.

“Out of those nine, five of them actually crossed into Gaza … for logistical reasons. Four of them were not able to enter,” he said, explaining that the crossing involves a complex transfer process. “As you know, the crossing has different stages, and there is a repacking … from one set of trucks to another set of trucks before it can move in.”

Even the five trucks that crossed Monday have yet to be fully released for delivery, Laerke noted, due to ongoing control measures by Israeli authorities.

"So it moved from different levels of Israeli control. The last level where the five trucks entered is still under Israeli control, and we need permission to pick it up."

That permission had not been granted as of Monday, but Laerke said the situation changed Tuesday morning.

"This morning, we do have the permission to collect those five trucks. That is as much as I know right now. We do have the permission to collect those trucks, and we do have permission to collect more trucks that may enter today," he said.

OCHA and other humanitarian organisations have consistently called for safe, sustained, and large-scale access into Gaza, where food, medicine, and fuel remain in critically short supply.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU