"A small number of bakeries in southern and central Gaza ... have restarted bread production after dozens of trucks were finally able to pick up cargo from the Kerem Shalom crossing and leave it," reports WFP in a statement according to AFP.
The program notes that the bakeries are now distributing bread.
Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that around 90 trucks with humanitarian aid were able to leave the border area at Kerem Shalom and continue into the besieged Gaza. It has been very slow to get out the "minimal" humanitarian aid that Israel has given the green light for.
Stranded at the border
The aid convoys are stuck at the border area, as they must be unloaded and reloaded before they can be transported further with other UN vehicles, according to Israeli regulations. Add to that the road that the Israeli military has given permission for the trucks to drive on is considered too dangerous.
It wasn't until late on Wednesday that some shipments were able to continue into Gaza, according to the UN.
Before we can take our vehicles from inside Gaza, drive to Kerem Shalom and pick up the aid, we need permission from the Israeli defense forces. If we don't have it, we can't act, notes Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN's office for humanitarian aid (Ocha), to TT.
At least some of the trucks reached the UN's storage facilities in central Gaza early on Thursday, according to pictures from AP.
The system is not new. Everything that is allowed into Gaza has for many years needed to be scrutinized and approved by Israel.
It's overly complicated procedures to get anything into Gaza. Everything that crosses the border must be approved multiple times and we have seen over many months items being removed, sometimes without explanation," says Jens Laerke.
"A drop in the ocean"
The UN has primarily prioritized getting baby food and nutrition into the vehicles that have now crossed the border, after Israel's 11-week-long blockade.
The location at the border in Gaza where the trucks first arrive, Jens Laerke calls a "no man's land" controlled by the Israeli military. It's where the cargo is left and the first vehicles turn around.
The trucks that have so far been allowed into Gaza are, according to the UN, "a drop in the ocean".
We can compare it to the operation we had when they were open, when there was a ceasefire not so long ago. During that period, we could bring in between 500 and up to 800 truckloads every day. That's the amount we need, says Jens Laerke.
