The first aid trucks arrived in the war-torn Gaza Strip from Egypt on Saturday, AFP journalists said, bringing desperately needed humanitarian relief to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave under Israeli siege.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist militant group carried out the deadliest attack in the country's history on October 7.
It launched a military campaign and cut food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated and long-blockaded territory of 2.4 million people, sparking fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
AFP journalists saw 20 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, and the first trucks entering Gaza on the other side.
The crossing - the only one into Gaza not controlled by Israel - closed again after the trucks passed.
The lorries had been waiting for days on the Egyptian side after Israel agreed to allow aid to enter following a request from its top ally the United States.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the convoy "must not be the last" and that the delivery would start "a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies" to Gaza.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday that the aid was "the difference between life and death" for many Gazans.
But World Health Organization emergencies director Michael Ryan said US President Joe Biden's deal for an initial 20-truck delivery was "a drop in the ocean of need" and that 2,000 trucks were required.
