Gaza aid called inadequate as new convoy arrives

JERUSALEM: A second convoy of trucks carrying aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip crossed through the Rafah border point on Sunday, even as Israel stepped up airstrikes on Gaza, including one it said killed the deputy head of the Hamas regional artillery array.

The UN Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees said it would “run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip” in three days and that the aid convoys rolling into Gaza were “far from enough,” according to a statement.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called on all parties to immediately allow fuel supplies into Gaza. “Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance,” he said.


The agency is currently hosting more than half a million people out of nearly 1 million displaced across the Gaza Strip. A second convoy of trucks carrying aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip crossed through the Rafah border point Sunday, according to footage on Egypt's ExtraNews TV.

Local media had reported earlier that 17 trucks were being prepared to cross the border. The trickle of aid that's entered Gaza this weekend falls 20 trucks on Saturday and an estimated 17 on Sunday for short of meeting the needs of the territory's 2.3 million residents.