Crowds of Palestinians gathered in Gaza's Beit Lahiya on Monday (June 16) to receive long-awaited aid supplies, many carrying away boxes on their backs and on bicycles.

“It feels 100 times better than going to heaven,” said Mohammed al-Dawor, while holding a box of aid he said was for the children.

Half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation, a global hunger monitor said last month. Since then Israel, which controls supplies into the enclave, has lifted an 11-week-long total blockade on supplies but aid groups say it is not nearly enough to meet the needs.

Israel has put responsibility for distributing much of the aid it allows into Gaza into the hands of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which operates sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops.

The United Nations has rejected the plan, saying GHF distribution is inadequate, dangerous and violates humanitarian impartiality principles.

Before the new system was set up, aid had been distributed to Gaza's 2.3 million residents mainly by U.N. agencies such as UNRWA, which employ thousands of staff inside Gaza and operate hundreds of sites across the enclave.

Israel allowed limited U.N.-led aid operations to resume on May 19.

On Sunday, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that this week it had facilitated the entry of 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the international community, including food and flour, into Gaza.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Thousands of Palestinians gather to receive aid in northern Gaza

VIDEO SHOWS: HUGE CROWDS OF PALESTINIANS GATHERING TO RECEIVE AID / PALESTINIANS CARRYING AID BOXES / COMMENT FROM A PALESTINIAN WHO RECEIVED AID

RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT.

SHOWS: BEIT LAHIYA, GAZA (JUNE 16, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. CROWDS OF PALESTINIANS CARRYING BOXES OF AID

2. PEOPLE CARRYING AID ON THEIR BACKS AND ON BICYCLES

3. CROWDS RIDING ON THE BACK OF TRUCK / PEOPLE CARRYING AID ON THEIR BACKS

4. MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING CARRYING AID BOXES

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN MAN, MOHAMMED AL-DAWOR, SAYING:

"It feels 100 times better than going to heaven because we are in a very very difficult situation, and thank God, He honored us after 5 days with this box, and thank God for everything, and this box is for the young children."

6. PEOPLE CARRYING AID BOXES / PEOPLE RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND

7. CROWDS RIDING ON THE BACK OF A TRUCK / PEOPLE GATHERING AS THEY RECEIVE AID SUPPLIES

8. PEOPLE CARRYING AID

9. VARIOUS OF CROWDS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AS THEY RECEIVE AID

10. PEOPLE WALKING, SOME HOLDING BOXES OF AID