By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Few aid trucks have recently entered the northern part of the Gaza Strip despite US and Israeli claims of an increase, authorities in Gaza said Friday.
In a statement, Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza-based Government Media Office, said out of 1,063 aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip in the last week, only 49 entered the northern part of the enclave.
"This number of trucks disproves American and Israeli statements of an increase in the number of aid trucks (into northern Gaza), as they allege the entry of 300 aid trucks daily," he added.
Marouf reiterated that Israel is restricting the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza.
He also urged the reopening of all crossings with Gaza and the facilitation of the entry of no less than a 1,000 trucks daily "to overcome the effects of the food crisis" in Gaza.
On Tuesday, David Satterfield, the US special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, told reporters the volume of humanitarian assistance reaching the coastal territory, especially the hunger-stricken north, is “significantly greater” than in previous months.
"Is it enough? No, it is not enough. But it is progress," he said.
Under US pressure, Israel promised to facilitate more aid access, including by opening the Erez crossing into northern Gaza, permitting the temporary use of the Ashdod port in southern Israel, and expanding the operational capacity of its existing aid access points.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, with vast swathes of Gaza laying in ruins, and 85% of the enclave’s population has been forced into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar