The first trucks with humanitarian aid started arriving in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. This happened after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas came into force. This was announced by Jonathan Whittall from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), writes TASR according to the AFP agency.
“The first aid trucks have started to enter (Gaza),” Whittall wrote on the X social network minutes after the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas came into effect. He added that extensive preparations had been underway in recent days to ensure the distribution of the massive amount of humanitarian aid. to Gaza.
Meanwhile, Reuters, citing two unnamed Egyptian sources, said that around 200 humanitarian aid trucks, including around 20 carrying fuel, had already arrived at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is controlled by Israel.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported shortly before that it has 4,000 humanitarian aid trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip, roughly half of which contain basic foodstuffs and flour.
Displaced residents are returning home
The cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect at 11:15 a.m. local time (10:15 a.m. CET), almost three hours later than originally scheduled. The reason for the delay was that Hamas did not provide the list of hostages by the set time, which it will release on Sunday, which it explained as “technical problems”.
After a few hours, however, he published the names of the three hostages, in exchange for which he expects Israel to release 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday. After receiving the list, Israel announced the beginning of a cease-fire.
The ceasefire agreement will take place in three phases, allowing the hundreds of thousands of displaced people from Gaza to return to their homes and guaranteeing the flow of humanitarian aid. Israeli forces will gradually begin withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Both sides will start releasing hostages already during the first phase.
The AFP agency reported that after the cease-fire came into effect, thousands of displaced people were heading to Gaza. They returned to their homes by various means of transport, but also on foot, carrying tents, clothes and personal belongings with them.
