FLASH
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Flour and food supplies will begin arriving on Thursday to some of the most affected residents in the Gaza Strip, after Israel allowed more aid trucks to enter.
However, these supplies will not at all cover the shortages caused by the 11-week blockade, Palestinian officials have said.
Israel said it allowed 100 trucks, also loaded with baby food and medical supplies, to enter Gaza on Wednesday, two days after announcing it had eased restrictions in the face of international pressure.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was taking the shipments to use for its fighters.
Hamas - designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union - has denied Israel's accusations.
The UN said a quarter of Gaza's population of 2.3 million is at risk of starvation.
"Some bakeries will start receiving flour to bake bread and we expect bread distribution to start later today," Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
He said only 90 trucks had managed to get in. "During the ceasefire, 600 trucks were coming in every day, which means the current amount is a drop in the ocean, nothing," he said.
Bakeries supported by the UN World Food Programme will bake the bread and the agency's staff will distribute it. This will be done in a more controlled manner than before, when bakers sold bread directly to residents at a low price, he added.
"The idea is to try to reach the most needy families, those who are in desperate situations, as this is just the beginning," Shawa said.
As the first aid arrived after the blockade, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 35 Palestinians across the enclave on Thursday, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on these reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to allow the return of Israeli hostages from Gaza. But he said that if they are not returned, Israel will continue its military campaign to take full control of Gaza.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 hostages remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.
Since then, Israel's war has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials .
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