Erez crossing used to get food into Gaza for first time, World Food Programme says (2024)

Food supplies have entered northern Gaza for the first time through the Erez crossing, which Israel agreed to open earlier this month, according to the World Food Programme.

The UN food agency said three convoys crossed via Erez on April 14, 15, and 16, with 25 trucks carrying around 404 metric tonnes of food parcels and wheat flour.

UN agencies have said that getting aid to northern Gaza has been incredibly challenging because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing combat, and debris blocking roads.

Israel earlier this month approved the reopening of the Erez crossing for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks, as well as the use of the Ashdod Port for aid. The announcement came hours after US President Joe Biden pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more aid into Gaza.

The first aid shipment to Gaza via the Ashdod Port was transferred on Wednesday.

Gaza is facing a worsening hunger crisis as tonnes of aid have been held up at various land crossings. Humanitarian workers and government officials havepreviously told CNN that there’s a pattern of Israeli obstruction of aid into Gaza.

The EU’s top diplomat warned Thursday that the Middle East is on the brink of a regional war, and that European leaders must ask Israel for a “restrained answer” to Iran’s weekend airstrikes.

Iran launchedthe attackinretaliationfor a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria earlier this month.

Borrell said that "humanitarian support has increased very little” for Gaza and that the aid reaching the enclave was “very insufficient.”

His comments come a day after British Foreign Minister David Cameron urged the world’s largest economies to coordinate sanctions against Iran, to show a “united front.”

The EU has announced it would widen sanctions against Iran following the Islamic Republic's attack

"We have decided to put in place sanctions against Iran, it is a clear signal that we want to send," European Council President Charles Michel said Wednesday at an EU summit.

The US also plans to impose new sanctions targeting Iran following its attack.

More than 13,800 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, according to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

And "one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes" in Gaza, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women said in a statement.

More than 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since the war began, 6,000 of whom left 19,000 orphaned children behind, the statement said.

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers due to a lack of media access to Gaza.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

The death toll from an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Al-Maghazi refugee camp has risen to 14, including eight children, according to Al-Aqsa hospital officials.

The airstrike hit the refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday, with initial reports saying 13 people — including seven children — were among those killed.

The Israeli military said the incident is under review.

Footage of the strike: Graphic video, obtained exclusively by CNN from eyewitness Nihad Owdetallah,showed several casualties scattered on the floor, including children, with blood streaming around the area.

In the video, dozens of people appear to be running around in panic, screaming and trying to count and carry the dead bodies. A foosball table covered in dust is seen among the dead bodies.

Footage shot for CNN from inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital showed a continuous flow of casualties and wounded people being ushered in, as the emergency room is crowded with patients, including several wounded children, crying out on the floor. Family members were seen crowding over their loved ones’ dead bodies, kissing them, holding onto them, and sobbing.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed concerns Wednesday over the state of international mediation efforts led by Qatar to help reach a hostage and a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Al Thani, who is also Qatar's foreign minister, criticized the misuse of Qatar's efforts for “narrow political” gains by some involved, undermining the broader goal of peace and humanitarian relief, “which required the State of Qatar to conduct a comprehensive evaluation.”

He emphasized the sensitivity of the ongoing talks and highlighted the challenges faced in bridging gaps between conflicting parties. He also pointed out the inconsistency between private assurances and public statements by involved parties, describing such actions as counterproductive.

While he did not mention anyone by name, the comments followed a statement by US Rep. Steny Hoyer on Monday that said if Qatar fails to apply pressure on Hamas to reach an agreement on a deal to release hostages and establish a temporary ceasefire, “the United States must reevaluate its relationship with Qatar.”

On Tuesday Qatar’s Embassy to the US in Washington issued a statement saying it was surprised by Hoyer’s remarks, adding that while the country shares the congressman's frustrations, it does not control Israel or Hamas.

More than 13,800 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell.

"Thousands have been injured and thousands more are on the brink of famine," she said during a news conference in New York.

In a separate statement, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Womensaid that "one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes" in Gaza. And that more than 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and 6,000 of them left 19,000 orphaned children behind.

UNICEF communication specialist Tess Ingram, who recently visited Gaza, said in Genevaon Tuesday that what struck her was the number of wounded children she saw.

CNN cannot independently verify death numbers due to a lack of media access to Gaza.

The Israeli military said it killed and arrested several militants during an operation in the civilian area of Beit Hanoun in the northeastern Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had raided a building complex that included two schools after receiving "intelligence that terrorists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists organizations were located in the building and using civilians present there as human shields."

CNN is not able to independently confirm the claims made by the IDF.

The IDF said it told civilians to leave the building before entering during its joint operation with the Israel Security Agency, Israel's domestic security agency, also known as Shin Bet or Shabak.

What Gazans told CNN: People living in the area said Israeli military vehicles began an operation there on Monday afternoon, firing shots and rounds of artillery shelling.

Residents said that Israeli forces had surrounded three schools early Tuesday morning, including one where hundreds of people had been sheltering.

They ordered people to leave the schools and detained dozens of men, including some elderly people and teenagers over the age of 15, according to residents. An elderly woman who had been sheltering in one of the schools said Israeli soldiers came in the middle of the night and arrested several men and women.

The first shipment of aid to Gaza to be delivered into Ashdod Port was transferred Wednesday, according to the Israeli military.

The Israel Defense Forces said eight World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour entered via the Kerem Shalom Crossing after being inspected at Ashdod.

Israel earlier this month announced its decision to facilitate aid deliveries via the port.

At the time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the development but said the “real test” would be to see whether aid was “effectively reaching people who it needed throughout Gaza.”

CNN has reached out to the WFP for comment.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Israel’s response to Iran’s attack should inflict a “disproportionate toll” and “rock Tehran” to deter Iran from future strikes.

Smotrich said Israel’s response to Iran’s missile and drone attack should make Tehran “regret the moment they even thought about firing” and be “fierce, severe and inflict a disproportionate toll.”

Smotrich, who is technically also a minister in Israel’s defense ministry due to a deal struck in coalition agreements, told Israel’s Army Radio(GLZ)that the nature of Israel’s response would “shape [Israel’s] position in the Middle East."

The response, he said, “should rock Tehran, so everyone there will realize they shouldn’t mess with us,” he said, adding that “this is the language spoken in the Middle East.”

The minister, who is head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, also said that Israel should maintain its strategic ties with the United States and other partners but must prevent itself from finding itself in a “bear-hug, which will limit and make us incapable.”

Key context: Smotrich is not a member of Israel’s war cabinet, which the security cabinet has authorized to decide on how to respond to the Iranian attack.

As tensions in the region intensify, many world leaders have urged restraint as Israel weighs the size and scope of its response to Iran.