In Pictures

‘To make lives easier’: Aid brings relief in Gaza amid Israel-Hamas truce

Trucks deliver fuel, cooking gas, food and medicine, in the largest aid convoy to Gaza since the war began.

Children use a donkey-pulled cart to transport empty gas canisters to be filled with cooking gas from a tank that entered the Palestinian enclave via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 25 — Children use a donkey-pulled cart to transport empty gas canisters to be filled with cooking gas in Rafah in southern Gaza, on Saturday [Said Khatib/AFP]

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing a brief period of calm after nearly 50 days of relentless bombardment by Israeli forces.

The United Nations said the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect on Friday, has enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza on October 21.

The UN was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (34,078 gallons) of fuel – just over 10 percent of the daily pre-war volume – as well as cooking gas, for the first time since the war began.

In Rafah in southern Gaza on Saturday, many waited to fill gas canisters for cooking. “All the people are hoping and ready for it to make their lives easier,” said one resident, Ezzeddine Abu Omeira.

For the first time in over a month, aid also reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. A UN convoy delivered flour to two facilities sheltering people displaced by the fighting.

Prior to the war, 500 trucks crossed into Gaza daily, according to OCHA, the United Nations humanitarian agency.

The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the fighting which began on October 7.

Aid trucks move on a road as Palestinians look on, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip November 25 — Aid trucks move on a road in Rafah as Palestinians look on, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Palestinians gather to buy fuel, amid fuel shortages, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 25 — Palestinians in Rafah gather during the temporary truce to buy fuel amid shortages. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

People wait near empty gas canisters to be filled with cooking gas from a tank that entered the Palestinian enclave via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 25 — People chat near empty gas canisters as they wait to access essential cooking gas. [Said Khatib/AFP]

Palestinians line up for cooking gas during the second day of the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Rafah — Deliveries of supplies of fuel and cooking gas were blocked to the Gaza Strip for more than a month after the war began. [Hatem Ali/AP Photo]

Women bake bread using a makeshift wood stove in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 25 — Women bake bread using a makeshift wood stove in Rafah, after trucks carrying aid, including fuel, food and medicine, began moving into Gaza. [Said Khatib/AFP]