STORY: Palestinian mother of three, Amal Abu Assi, unboxed an aid parcel dropped from planes over Gaza, revealing its content and complaining that they are not enough.

"Enough with this humiliation... It does not deserve (all of this)," the 30-year-old said.

Abu Assi, sitting between children, held up a can of hummus and asked "what should I do with it?".

"Shall I open it and give it to the children like this? It is not healthy. This is not healthy," she added, remembering when food was warm, colourful and more than just a can.

"Children are dead, pale, turning to skeletons, only bones. They forgot eggs, meat and fruits."

Others in Gaza City echoed Abu Assi's concerns.

A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday (July 29) that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted.

Israel said on Sunday (July 27) it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and designate secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says 500-600 trucks a day are needed to prevent more of the 2.1 million population people starving.

Since the announcement, over 100 truckloads of aid have been transported into Gaza, according to the U.N..

The World Food Program said that only half of the 100 trucks it hoped to get in daily had been allowed in, and it had not been able to reopen the lifeline bakeries and community kitchens that closed in May due to shortages.

More than 20,000 children were admitted to hospital with severe malnutrition between April and mid-July, according to the hunger monitor, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The U.N. children's charity UNICEF is focusing on urgent delivery of Ready-To-Use-Therapeutic-Foods, including dense peanut paste and high-energy biscuits, which the acutely malnourished require before they can start eating normal food.

Babies under six months need a therapeutic formula that works similarly to the paste.

UNICEF says these special foods are set to run out by mid-August.

Malnourished children often suffer complications that require antibiotics - something else that the WHO says is running out.

Acutely malnourished children can usually recover within 8-10 weeks, experts say. For children under 2, who may have been malnourished during critical brain development, full recovery is harder to achieve.

In all cases, long-term access to nutritious foods such as fruit, vegetables and meat is essential for full recovery, requiring commercial supplies to resume, UNICEF says.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private U.S.- and Israeli-backed group, said it has distributed over 96 million meals since late May, in boxes of staples such as rice, flour, pasta, tuna, beans, biscuits and cooking oil.

However, most of these need to be cooked, and the IPC report noted that clean water and fuel are largely unavailable in Gaza.

Israel says it will allow airdrops of food, and Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons into Gaza on Sunday (July 27).

Yet it is widely acknowledged that the only effective way to meet Gaza's needs is by truck. Airdrops are many times more expensive and UNICEF notes they feed the first to arrive, not those in most need.

Ways must be found to get aid safely to the right recipients.

U.N. data gathered between May 19, when Israel lifted its blockade, and July 25 shows that only about one in eight of the 2,010 truckloads of relief collected from crossing points under the U.N.-led aid operation reached its destination.

The rest were looted, "either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors during transit".

An internal U.S. government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by the Palestinian militant group Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies, and the U.N. refuses to cooperate with GHF, Israel's chosen aid provider. But deliveries by the GHF have, if anything, been more dangerous.

The U.N. estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food supplies, most of them near the militarised distribution sites of the GHF, which employs a U.S. logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed U.S. veterans.

GHF denies that there have been deadly incidents at its sites, and says the deadliest have been near other aid convoys.

The Israeli military has acknowledged that civilians hav

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

e been harmed by its gunfire near distribution centres, and says its forces have now received better instructions.

REFILE: Inside an aid package dropped from the sky over Gaza

VIDEO SHOWS: AID AIRDROPPED IN GAZA / PALESTINIAN FAMILIES IN GAZA CITY SHOWING COMPONENTS OF FOOD PARCELS / SOUNDBITES BY MEMBERS OF GAZAN FAMILIES SAYING AID PARCELS ARE NOT SUFFICIENT TO MEET THEIR NEEDS / SOUNDBITES BY UNICEF AND WFP OFFICIALS DEMANDING MORE SUSTAINED ACCESS TO ALLOW AID INTO GAZA AT SCALE

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: RESENDING WITH UPDATED SCRIPT.

SHOWS: CENTRAL GAZA, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PLANE FLYING OVER CENTRAL GAZA

2. VARIOUS OF AID BEING AIRDROPPED OVER GAZA

GAZA CITY, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

3. GAZAN MOTHER OF THREE, AMAL ABU ASSI, CHECKING ITEMS IN FOOD PARCEL

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN MOTHER OF THREE, AMAL ABU ASSI, SAYING:

"Enough with this humiliation, just go back to the first, old way (of aid distribution) so that we take (aid) with dignity. This parcel comes to us and it's not even worth us running after it and dying, (for it to) fall on the people's tents, their homes, people fighting each other, holding knives. It is not worth (all of this). If it was worth it, we would ask you to yes, drop (the parcels). But no, we are totally against this. I'm talking on behalf of myself and the entire Gaza Strip."

5. VARIOUS OF ABU ASSI SHOWING COMPONENTS OF PARCEL, INCLUDING CANNED FOOD

6. CANNED FOOD IN PARCEL

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN MOTHER OF THREE, AMAL ABU ASSI, SAYING:

"These are not enough, they don't make food for us. This can of hummus, what should I do with it? Shall I open it and give it to the children like this? It is not healthy. This is not healthy. We need to go back like before, eating like what we were used to before. Children are dead, pale, turning to skeletons, only bones. They forgot (what) eggs, meat and fruits are. What are you getting us? Bananas, a kilo of which costs 15 shekels, nearly $4, from where can we afford $4? We cannot work to afford 20 shekels (around $5) or $4. The men are all without jobs, they can't work. There is nothing to live by. Life here is completely lost, this is enough."

8. ABU ASSI CLOSING PARCEL WITH CHILDREN AROUND HER

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN MOTHER OF THREE, AMAL ABU ASSI, SAYING:

"(They) should go back to the old way, the system, whether gas or coupons, we take them with respect, so that we feel that we have some respect and appreciation, as a woman, a husband, a divorced woman, a displaced woman, elderly men, and patients, with everyone respected, taking their parcel with respect, (the box) arriving to their home or coming to nearby areas, instead of running for long distances, for kilometres, we walk, in order to take the aid. They come back humiliated, wounded and beaten up."

10. DESTRUCTION

AMMAN, JORDAN (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST FOR MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SALIM OWEIS, SAYING:

"The boxes that are being distributed in Gaza are mainly catered to adults and even that is not enough, because they are highly dependent on carbs, some protein, but that's it."

GAZA CITY, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

12. GAZAN MOHAMMED ABOUL EINEEN, CHECKING FOOD PARCEL / FOOD PARCEL

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN, MOHAMMED ABOUL EINEEN, SAYING: (HOLDING UP FOOD ITEMS)

"This is Emirati rice, this is beans, this is loose tea, this is pasta, this is oil, of course all from the UAE, this is salt, cans of tuna."

CAIRO, EGYPT (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) WFP REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND EASTERN EUROPE, SAMER ABDELJABER, SAYING:

"Especially now, we are talking about catastrophic levels of needs, so the only way to bring in scale is actually the use of the land crossings. So that's our position, we believe that it's more efficient, it is going to be allowing us to really bring more levels of anxiety of the crowds down if they see that there is more aid going in and of course scalable that they can trust the system that we will be able to really bring in every day."

GAZA CITY, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

15. VARIOUS OF ABOUL EINEEN SHOWING COMPONENTS OF FOOD PARCEL

16. ABOUL EINEEN PUTTING FOOD ITEMS BACK INTO BOX

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN, MOHAMMED ABOUL EINEEN, SAYING:

"What happened is that the parachute fell on the roof, it damaged the roof. People attacked the house. This is not the way to distribute aid. The old way was - we would receive a message to get a coupon (aid). People attacked us for the sake of an aid parcel, people are hungry."

18. SIGN ON BOX READING (Arabic/English): "EMIRATES RED CRESCENT"

19. ABOUL EINEEN POINTING AT LABEL ON CAN OF HUMMUS AND SAYING (Arabic): "HUMMUS MANUFACTURED IN THE UAE"

20. ABOUL EINEEN SHOWING CANNED TUNA

AMMAN, JORDAN (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

21. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST FOR MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SALIM OWEIS, SAYING:

"What we are trying to do is really prioritize life-saving aid, and we're talking about RUTF, or ready to use therapeutic food for children who are already malnourished, ready to use infant formulas, ready to use complementary foods so we can treat the malnutrition, but also prevent it from those children who are thankfully not yet there."

GAZA CITY, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

22. ABOUL EINEEN PUTTING BACK FOOD ITEMS INSIDE BOX

AMMAN, JORDAN (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

23. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST FOR MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SALIM OWEIS, SAYING:

"We need more interventions, and that's why aid on its own is not enough. What we need also is commercial goods. We need fruits, vegetables, other kinds of food that will kind of complement the basic response that we did, and that's what is also lacking in Gaza."

GAZA CITY, GAZA (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

24. VARIOUS OF GAZAN FATHER WHO HAS FAMILY OF EIGHT, FARES ZAHER, SHOWING COMPONENTS OF FOOD PARCEL WITH CHILDREN AROUND HIM / SAYING (Arabic): "This is pasta, these are beans, this is tuna."

25. PASTA,TUNA AND CANNED BAKED BEANS INSIDE PARCEL

26. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN FATHER WHO HAS FAMILY OF EIGHT, FARES ZAHER, SAYING:

"I have eight individuals and for this amount, it is not enough for two days. I have to go to Zikim (crossing in northern Gaza) and subject myself to danger. We are beaten up, we are not asking you for much, secure the routes for us, there is no problem. We want something safer for us and our children."

27. ZAHER SHOWING COMPONENTS OF FOOD PARCEL, INCLUDING CANNED FOOD, PASTA AND SALT

28. LABEL ON FOOD PARCEL READING (Arabic/English): "EMIRATES RED CRESCENT"

29. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZAN FATHER WHO HAS FAMILY OF EIGHT, FARES ZAHER, SAYING:

"How will we live? Please let us know. If we did not go to bring food for our children, we will die from hunger because there is no institution that receives or secures trucks and distributes to the people. We urge the United Nations and the agency (UNRWA) to distribute (aid) on us, to send us messages, and secure (distribution of aid). We are not asking anyone else, we are asking the agency (UNRWA). I have been taking (aid) from the agency (UNRWA) for 43 years. The agency (UNRWA) calls me to go (to get aid) and I go. I raised my children through (the help of) the agency (UNRWA)."

30. ZAHER SHOWING CANNED FOOD

31. COMPONENTS OF FOOD PARCEL ON DISPLAY / CHILDREN LOOKING TO ZAHER AS HE SHOWS FOOD ITEMS

32. PEOPLE WALKING AMONG RUINS

33. BOY STANDING NEAR TENT, SURROUNDED BY DESTRUCTION

34. DESTRUCTION