Aid has begun to trickle into Gaza for the first time in over two and a half months amid mounting international criticism of Israel’s blockade, which has led to dire shortages of food, water, and medical supplies.
The supply halt began on March 2, after the first phase of a truce between Israel and Hamas expired without agreement on the following steps to end the conflict. Since Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18, Gaza’s health ministry reports that over 3,500 people have been killed, pushing the total death toll in the war to more than 53,600 — the majority of them civilians.