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Displaced Palestinians return to destroyed homes as desperately needed aid is delivered to Gaza
We are restarting our live coverage of the major developments in Israel’s war on Gaza after a long-awaited ceasefire came into effect on Sunday.
With the ceasefire agreement appearing to be holding, Palestinians are returning to find their homes reduced to rubble after 15 months of intense Israeli bombardments across the strip.
Displaced by Israeli airstrikes, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people have been packed into crowded refugee camps along the coast, enduring cold winter weather amid widespread malnutrition.
Charities have struggled to deliver aid, accusing Israel of blocking their attempts to. It means there are major shortages of food, blankets, warm clothing and firewood.
But international aid organisations have expressed cautious hope that the truce deal will allow them to rapidly scale up humanitarian support and reach those most in need.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, people displaced from their homes in Gaza will be allowed to move freely around the Palestinian territory from day seven, and 600 trucks of aid will arrive each day to alleviate the strip’s dire humanitarian conditions. We are on day three of the ceasefire agreement. The next hostage swap is expected to take place on Saturday.
Supplies to Gaza were, as of Sunday, at an average of 18 truckloads a day; aid agencies say 500 a day is needed at a minimum. Yesterday, the number of aid trucks – carrying essential items alongside water and medication – into Gaza was around 915, according to reports. At least 1,545 aid lorries have crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel took place over the weekend, according to the UN.
A 60-day World Health Organization plan includes repairing Gaza’s hospitals – none of which are fully functional anymore – setting up temporary clinics in the most devastated areas (likely in the northern part of the territory), tackling malnutrition and stemming disease outbreaks.
We will give you the latest developments on the relief efforts and other news coming out of Gaza throughout the day.
