UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations humanitarian scale-up in the Gaza Strip is well underway, with cooking gas entering the enclave for the first time since March, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.
More tents for displaced families, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicines crossed into Gaza throughout the day, OCHA said in a press release.
The United Nations and its partners distributed hundreds of thousands of hot meals and bread bundles in both southern and northern Gaza, the office said.
OCHA said it has secured Israeli approval for additional aid deliveries, bringing the total amount in its cleared pipeline to 190,000 metric tons, including food, shelter materials, medicine and other supplies.
“This is just the beginning,” the office said, adding that as part of its plan for the first 60 days of the ceasefire, the United Nations and its partners will expand operations to deliver life-saving aid and services across Gaza.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said that during the first 60 days of the ceasefire, humanitarian agencies aim to increase the pipeline of supplies to hundreds of trucks per day, totaling 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other essentials.
He said the United Nations will scale up food distribution to reach 2.1 million people who need food aid and 500,000 who require nutritional support; restore the health system, including community-level disease surveillance; provide water and sanitation services to 1.4 million people; expand shelter programs; and reopen temporary learning spaces for 700,000 school-aged children.
The ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas took effect Friday after three days of intensive negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the United States. / XINHUA