UN uses new land route to deliver food to northern Gaza

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS. The UN says a new land route has been used to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks, BBC reports.

The Israeli military said six lorries from the World Food Programme crossed via a gate in the Gaza border fence. The UN said the WFP convoy was able to use an Israeli military road that runs along the Gaza border fence to reach the north and deliver enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City.

Israeli security officials carried out a prior security check on the aid lorries at the Kerem Shalom crossing with southern Gaza, according to the military.

A boat carrying 200 tonnes of food aid for distribution by a charity also set sail from Cyprus on March 12, inaugurating a new maritime corridor into the Palestinian territory. It is expected to arrive near Gaza on March 14. However, it has been widely pointed out that access by road remains the quickest way to get in urgently needed supplies.

The UN says at least 576,000 people in Gaza - one quarter of the population - are one step away from famine. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says at least 27 people, most of them children, have died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration at hospitals there.

Around 31,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's assault in Gaza, launched after Hamas attacks in Israel that killed 1,200 people in October.