UN reports 'real progress' on aid delivery to Gaza amid ceasefire

The UN reported significant advances in humanitarian operations across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, saying its "humanitarian scale-up in Gaza is well underway-and today brought some real progress."

"For the first time since March, cooking gas entered the Strip," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a statement, noting that "more tents for displaced families, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicines also crossed into Gaza throughout the day."

The agency added that the UN and its partners "distributed hundreds of thousands of hot meals and bread bundles-both in the south and in the north."

With eased movement and access restrictions, OCHA said it was able to "pre-position medical and emergency supplies to where they are needed most, assess key roads for explosive hazards, and support displaced families in flood-prone areas prepare for the winter season."

OCHA also announced that "Israeli approval for more aid to move forward" has been secured, bringing the cleared pipeline to "190,000 metric tons," including food, shelter items and medicine.

"This is just the beginning," the agency said, vowing to expand aid delivery "to virtually everyone across Gaza."

US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his 20-point plan aimed at implementing a ceasefire in Gaza. The plan includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The first phase took effect on Friday.

Phase two of the plan envisions the creation of a new governing body in Gaza excluding Hamas, the deployment of a multinational force and the disarmament of Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,600 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.