GENEVA

The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced on Thursday that three convoys belonging to the program crossed into northern Gaza via the Erez crossing "for the first time."

"This week in Gaza, 3 WFP convoys with enough food and wheat flour for nearly 80,000 people crossed into the north from the Erez crossing for the first time," the UN organization said on X.

It noted that 392 trucks carrying food had entered Gaza in April, a number equal to March but half compared to January 2023, before the hostilities began in the Gaza Strip.

"The only way to halt famine is through regular and sustained access and a humanitarian ceasefire," it underlined.

Earlier this month, after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers, US President Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin to allow more food aid into Gaza, and Netanyahu said he would.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.

Nearly 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.