Sophie Williams
Reporting from Jerusalem

Salah Mkhesi from Gaza City was among those trying to get aid on Sunday.

The BBC’s freelance reporters met him in northern Gaza after he managed to secure a bag of flour from an aid truck.

“We’re here to get aid for our families. People come here facing death,” he said. “Children are going to sleep without eating or drinking water. How long will this situation continue? Find a solution for us.”

Aid has been coming into the area via trucks and air drops from planes.

When asked about the plane drops he said he “completely rejected” them.

“I reject it because it is dangerous. It kills people. I totally reject it.”

We're seeing images of aid trucks entering Gaza today.

The pictures below are from Getty Images, via the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency.

They show a "limited number" of aid trucks passing through the Rafah crossing - on the border with Egypt - into Gaza earlier on Monday, according to Getty Images.

Image source, Anadolu/Getty Images

Image source, Anadolu/Getty Images

Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing the entry of aid into Gaza, says more than 120 trucks of aid were collected and distributed in the area yesterday by the UN and other international organisations.

It says another 180 trucks entered Gaza and are waiting to be collected and distributed, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup.

"More consistent collection and distribution by UN agencies and international organisations = more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza," it says in a post on social media.

The Israeli statements that aid is waiting to be distributed were put to UN aid chief Tom Fletcher earlier today. He said drivers face bureaucratic and security constraints - see Fletcher's remarks here.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa says Gaza needs 500 to 600 trucks of aid every day.

We've just heard from Save the Children Humanitarian Director Rachael Cummings, who spoke to the BBC News channel from Deir al-Balah, Gaza.

She was at a clinic yesterday and says every child there was malnourished, and every adult - including her team - is "desperately thin".

Cummings says families have protected children throughout the war so far, with children usually fed first.

But she says these coping mechanisms are now "completely exhausted", and the fact that children are starving is a "yardstick" for all of Gaza being at risk of starvation.

She adds that her team have been in tears over how much needs to be done in Gaza and how limited they are in what can actually be achieved.

Cummings is calling for a sustained delivery of humanitarian supplies, so UN teams can distribute aid safely.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says 14 people have died in the past 24 hours from malnourishment.

That number includes two children.

It says the total number of deaths from malnourishment has now reached 147 - 88 of them are children.

Image source, PA Media

UK cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds says the US has got the leverage to make a difference in the situation in Gaza.

His comment comes as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet Donald Trump this morning, with Gaza on the agenda.

Asked whether the UK would follow France in recognising a Palestinian state, Reynolds says the government is “deeply committed” to doing so, but “it’s about doing it in a way that genuinely moves the dial forward” on a “long-term peace process” - and that the US is key to that.

We heard earlier from the UN aid chief Tom Fletcher about difficulties getting aid into Gaza.

Images from the territory at the weekend showed chaotic scenes and people walking in the heat carrying aid.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Just after the second military pause in parts of Gaza began, the UN's aid chief spoke to the BBC about the challenges the UN faces on the ground.

Here are the key things he said:

• Tom Fletcher says his teams on the ground believe the humanitarian pauses will last "a week or so" - the Israel Defense Forces had said "until further notice" in its announcement
• He says the UN has a plan to reach everyone in Gaza over the "next couple of weeks", but they'll need border crossings open, permits and security to operate
• Some aid the UN transported yesterday was looted by "starving", "desperate" civilians, making the journey dangerous for UN workers
• Fletcher says he wishes the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation would distribute aid in a "more principled, humanitarian way", adding that he's seen footage of people killed while trying to access aid
• He also calls for Israel to allow journalists, lawyers and investigators into the Strip to verify what's happening on the ground

Fletcher is asked if the UN can work alongside the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is also delivering aid in the territory.

He says he has seen footage of people killed while trying to access aid at GHF's delivery sites.

If they can get food in, that's "a start", he says, but adds, "I just wish they would do it in a more principled, humanitarian way", saying the UN can deliver aid on a greater scale and in a way that doesn't harm civilians.

Asked about diplomatic efforts to improve the situation in Gaza, Fletcher says he's grateful to many European leaders for insisting more aid is brought in and for pushing for a ceasefire.

On recognising a Palestinian state, he says that's a question for UN member states, but adds that no-one has come up with a better idea than a two-state solution.

With that, the interview ends. We'll bring you a round-up of what he said soon.

The conversation with UN aid chief Tom Fletcher on the BBC's Today programme moves on to the logistics of getting aid out.

He says humanitarian workers "have to run the gauntlet", driving aid down roads where "starving" civilians know they'll be going - making it very dangerous for the drivers.

"Most of the lorries" yesterday had flour taken off them by desperate civilians, he says.

Fletcher says the UN works with local community kitchens to distribute food to those who need it most "and make sure Hamas don't get it", but the challenge of reaching those people "keeps us awake at night".

The discussion then turns to verifying what's happening on the ground.

Fletcher calls for Israel to allow journalists, lawyers and investigators into Gaza to see for themselves "so you don't have to rely on the figures we (the UN) pass on to you".

Image source, EPA

Fletcher is asked about Israeli claims that aid is waiting in Gaza, but that it's not being collected and distributed by UN agencies.

He says the UN's focus is on getting aid moving, but drivers face "bureaucratic" and security "constraints".

They got "quite a bit of food in" yesterday, he says, but "lots of that got looted".

"We have a plan," he adds, saying they can reach everyone in Gaza in the next couple of weeks, but they need border crossings open, permits, and security to operate.

Asked how long the humanitarian pause will last to allow more aid in, he says he's heard "from the team on the ground" that pauses will last "a week or so", which he says is "clearly insufficient" when they're seeing a "21st Century atrocity".

There needs to be a sustained period of weeks or months to stop starvation, he says, and ultimately a ceasefire is needed.

One in three people in Gaza hasn't eaten for days in a row - and that includes humanitarian workers, according to the UN's aid chief.

Tom Fletcher says he's been talking to teams on the ground about yesterday's aid deliveries, describing them as a "drop in the ocean".

He says the next few days are "make or break".

Fletcher also says he's spoken to survivors of the 7 October attacks in the kibbutz of Nir Oz in Israel, and tells the BBC's Today programme that they want aid to reach Gaza as well.

Image source, EPA-EFE

We're set to hear from UN aid chief Tom Fletcher on BBC Radio 4's Today programme shortly.

You can follow along by pressing the Watch live button at the top of this page. We'll also bring you updates right here as they come in.

Israeli media describes new aid measures as a humiliating about-turnpublished at 08:07 British Summer Time

08:07 BST

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed the significance of his change in policy on aid for Gaza - setting up secure “humanitarian corridors” and allowing “tactical pauses in fighting”.

He says humanitarian aid has been “enabled… throughout the duration of the war”.

But in the Israeli media, the latest announcements on relief for Gaza - which come amid international pressure - are being presented as a humiliating about-turn.

“The catastrophe has become so great that Netanyahu was forced to back down and to stop - at least during daylight hours - the military operation that he ordered, to capitulate to the demands made by the United Nations and international organisations, and to airdrop food…” writes Nahum Barnea in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“A victory picture has finally been achieved,” says Ben Caspit sarcastically in Maariv. “The aid packages that were air dropped yesterday into the Gaza Strip are Hamas’s victory picture.”

Image source, Reuters

Israel is not conducting a campaign of starvation in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, calling the accusation "a bold faced lie".

"There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza," he told a Christian conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.

He added that Israel has "enabled the amount required by international law to come in" and said Hamas "steals this humanitarian aid and then accuses Israel of not supplying it".

The UN says Israel is making it hard to get aid into Gaza because of bureaucratic hurdles and military actions. International organisations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), say there’s a serious problem with food shortages and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas denies it has been stealing aid from collection points. A recent USAID internal report said there was no evidence of systematic looting by Hamas of US-funded supplies.

Image source, Reuters

UN bodies including World Food Programme (WFP) and Unicef have welcomed Israel's new aid measures - but say they don't solve all the problems in Gaza.

The WFP says it hopes the measures "will allow for a surge in urgently needed food assistance to reach hungry people without further delays".

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher also says: "We welcome Israel's decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys."

But Fletcher says that while some movement restrictions appear to have been eased, "vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis".

He also says "sustained action" is needed - including quicker clearances for convoys going to Gaza.

"And no more attacks on people gathering for food," he adds.

• The UN's Tom Fletcher is due to speak to BBC Radio 4's Today programme at 08:10 BST - you will be able to listen and follow live in this page

Image source, Getty Images

Israel allowed air drops of aid into Gaza to resume over the weekend, after growing international pressure over malnutrition in Gaza.

Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates all parachuted aid into the territory. Jordan and the UAE dropped 25 tonnes, but a Jordanian official said it was not a substitute for delivery by land, Reuters reports - an argument the UN and aid agencies have also been making.

The head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, said parachuted aid is "expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians" if it goes awry, urging Israel to allow more deliveries by trucks.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent, Rushdi Abualouf, reporting from Istanbul, said over the weekend there were "chaotic" scenes as desperate people fought over the first air drops.

And a journalist in Gaza, Imad Kudaya, told the BBC that aid fell into dangerous areas. BBC Verify found evidence that aid had fallen into areas that Israel has declared “dangerous" combat zones.

Our world news correspondent Joe Inwood looked at the number over the weekend and found air drops alone are not enough to deliver the food Gaza needs. Our international editor Jeremy Bowen writes that air drops are usually a last resort.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The prime minister will convene a rare summer cabinet meeting this week to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The House of Commons broke for the summer last week but Sir Keir Starmer has decided to recall his cabinet ministers to Westminster to discuss how to help alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza and push for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

Starmer has come under mounting pressure in recent days from Labour MPs, including some with government positions, for the UK to follow France in announcing its recognition of a Palestinian state.

The prime minister has said he will do so when he believes it will have the biggest impact as part of a peace process.

Image source, Reuters

Yesterday, the IDF announced that it would implement daily 10-hour pauses in its military operations across Gaza to "improve the humanitarian response".

Military activity is due to cease from 10:00 to 20:00 local time (08:00 to 1800 BST) in three populated areas of Gaza - El-Mawasi area, central Deir al-Balah and northern Gaza City - to allow the UN and other organisations to deliver food and medicine to people "until further notice".

Israel's military said it would "continue to support humanitarian efforts alongside ongoing manoeuvring and offensive operations against terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect Israeli civilians".

Today is due to bring the second of those pauses.

Yesterday’s pause did not guarantee safety on the ground, however: BBC Verify geolocated an airstrike in western Gaza City where Israel had designated a pause an hour earlier.

The IDF said it was not aware of the strike when asked by the BBC.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

Israel’s army is expected to begin another 10-hour pause in military activity in parts of Gaza this morning, starting from 10:00 local time (07:00 GMT), to allow more desperately needed aid into the territory.

Israel announced its change in policy yesterday - and said it was setting up new secure routes for convoys - amid a global outcry over what the UN has called man-made, mass starvation.

Images of emaciated children and crowds scrambling for meagre food handouts in Gaza have caused international alarm.

The UN’s aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said that some movement restrictions appeared to have eased since Israel agreed to allow a one-week expansion of humanitarian supplies.

But, he said, action now needed to be sustained, vast and fast - calling for Israel to speed up its approvals for lorries to pick up goods from Gaza crossings.

Yesterday, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates carried out their first air drops in the territory in months - but one official said it was not a substitute for delivery by land.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to lash out at the UN saying it now has “no excuses left” to not deliver aid.

He hit back at claims of deliberately starving civilians in Gaza - which would amount to a war crime - saying this was an “egregious falsehood”.

• The UN's Tom Fletcher is due to speak to BBC Radio 4's Today programme at 08:10 BST - you will be able to listen and follow live in this page