A United Nations (UN) official has stated that the organisation will begin delivering aid to Gaza in a scaled-up manner starting Sunday, following the ceasefire's implementation. The aid will include the 170,000 metric tons that have already been positioned in the pipeline in neighboring countries like Jordan and Egypt. According to the UN, the aim is to scale up the provision of food across Gaza to reach 2.1 million people and approximately 500,000 people who require nutritional support. People carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) UN to step up aid distribution in Gaza In recent months, the UN and its humanitarian partners have only been able to deliver 20% of the aid needed to address the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, according to U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. Following the announcement on Wednesday of a ceasefire deal, he said Thursday that all entry points to Gaza must be opened to deliver aid at “a much, much greater scale.” The UN official told The Associated Press that Israeli authorities have given the green signal to step up the flow of aid to Gaza. A woman tends her stall as a boy walks by carrying a jerrycan at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said they expect about 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily. "Under the ceasefire arrangement, we will have more than 145 community distribution points, in addition to up to 30 bakeries and all of our nutrition sites," Ross Smith, WFP Director of Emergencies, told Reuters on Friday. The WFP expects to begin scaling up deliveries early next week, but that would depend on the withdrawal of Israeli forces so that humanitarian safe zones can be expanded. Displaced Palestinians ride a donkey cart loaded with belongings along the coastal road near Wadi Gaza in the central Gaza Strip, moving toward Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their war and the release of the remaining hostages. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) COGAT, said in a statement that aid trucks operated by the UN and "approved international organizations" the private sector, and donor countries would be allowed to enter Gaza. The trucks will mainly include food, medical equipment, shelter supplies, and fuel and equipment needed to repair water lines and sewage systems. Access to northern Gaza is critical, the WFP said, with up to 400,000 people who have not received assistance for several weeks. The agency has urged improved scanning and approval of aid convoys to speed truck entry. 50,000 children at risk of acute malnutrition: UNICEF On Friday, the UNICEF called for all crossings for food aid into Gaza to be opened, saying children in the territory were especially vulnerable because they have gone without proper food for long periods. Displaced Palestinians walk with their belongings past destroyed buildings as they return to their homes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their war and the release of the remaining hostages. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) "The situation is critical. We risk seeing a massive spike in child death, not only neonatal, but also infants, given their immune systems are more compromised than ever before," said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires. Children's immunity is low because "they haven't been eating properly and recently at all for way too long", he said. UNICEF said 50,000 children were at risk of acute malnutrition and in need of immediate treatment. UNICEF also aims to provide one million blankets for every child in Gaza and hopes to deliver wheelchairs and crutches, which it said had previously been blocked. Israeli forces will remain in Gaza Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of the Palestinian territory on Friday under a ceasefire deal with Hamas, in the first phase of an initiative by US President Donald Trump to end the two-year-old war. In a televised address on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces would stay in Gaza to ensure the territory was demilitarised and Hamas was disarmed in future stages of Trump's plan. Israeli soldiers work on a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Role of UN agencies during ceasefire Meanwhile, both UNICEF and the UN Palestinian refugee relief agency UNRWA said they have yet to receive details on their roles during the ceasefire. UNRWA, which is banned from operating in Israel, has urged the Israeli authorities to allow it to take 6,000 trucks' worth of aid into Gaza, including enough food to feed the population for three months, from Jordan and Egypt. "We've not had any progress to move those supplies into Gaza … and this is absolutely critical in controlling the spread of famine," Juliette Touma, the spokesperson for UNRWA, said.
