Monday Briefing

Relief supplies arriving in Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

More Gazan children will die without aid, U.N. warned

The U.N. warned that deaths of children and infants in Gaza were likely to “rapidly increase” if food and medical supplies were not sent immediately, days after an aid delivery into the enclave turned into a disaster.

The U.N. has warned that many Gazans are on the edge of famine, and some aid agencies have stopped distribution in northern Gaza because of risks there.

The convoy that arrived in Gaza City on Thursday ended in devastation. More than 100 Palestinians were killed as thousands gathered around trucks of food and supplies, Gazan health officials said. Accounts of what happened diverged sharply. The Israeli military said that many of the victims had been trampled, though it acknowledged that troops had opened fire after feeling threatened by the crowd. The Gazan health ministry called the episode a “massacre” by Israeli forces.

Two more aid convoys organized by the Israeli government and Palestinian businessmen went into Gaza over the weekend. One of the convoys was mostly emptied by desperate Gazans before making it to Gaza City. The U.S. also began airdropping aid, which some aid experts said was insufficient.

Related:

• Vice President Kamala Harris called for an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza.

• Israel’s lack of a clear plan for governing northern Gaza formed the backdrop to the chaos on Thursday, analysts and aid workers said.