Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a significant increase in supplies to the suffering population in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Friday.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that in the future 250 trucks per day will be expected to bring humanitarian supplies to the Mediterranean coastal area, where war has been raging for more than a year.
Netanyahu’s decision was a response to US threats to cut arms supplies to Israel if the situation of the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip does not improve.
According to the Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), 50 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza on Wednesday and another 30 on Friday.
The situation is considered particularly dire in the northern part of the coastal zone.
The UN children’s fund UNICEF reports that almost one in five children there already suffers from wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.
According to UN figures, about 500 trucks a day were delivering goods and aid to the Gaza Strip before the start of the war in October last year.
