STORY: Palestinians in Gaza City expressed dismay on Tuesday (May 20) over the lack of aid flow as international humanitarian experts warned of looming famine in the Palestinian enclave.

Displaced people staying in tents in the area surrounding the Islamic University in Gaza City said they haven’t seen any aid trucks coming in, despite what they hear on the news.

After weeks of blockade, Israel cleared nine trucks of goods on Monday (May 19) to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. However, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) Jens Laerke said on Tuesday that just five of those had so far entered Gaza and were still currently "under Israeli control" and subject to the last stage of checks.

The United Nations has received permission from Israel for about 100 more emergency aid trucks to enter Gaza, Laerke added.

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher previously called the aid deliveries approved so far "a drop in the ocean."

The U.N. says Gaza needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day. Throughout the war, trucks with aid have waited weeks and months at Gaza's border to enter.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days as the military campaign has intensified, medics in Gaza say.

Israel's ground and air war has devastated the coastal territory, displacing nearly all its 2.3 million residents and killing more than 53,000, according to Gaza health authorities.

The campaign began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities near Gaza's border in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: STREET SCENES FROM GAZA CITY / VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS SPEAKING ABOUT THE LACK OF AID COMING INTO GAZA AS HUNGER IN THE ENCLAVE INCREASES

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT.

SHOWS: GAZA CITY, GAZA (MAY 20, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF TENTS FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS

2. TWO CHILDREN WALKING ON RUBBLE

3. VARIOUS OF 65-YEAR-OLD DISPLACED PALESTINIAN FROM BEIT HANOUN, KIFAYA AL-AFIFY, SPEAKING WHILE SITTING AMONG HER FAMILY IN FRONT OF TENT

4. ELDERLY MAN SPEAKING TO CHILD

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN FROM BEIT HANOUN, KIFAYA AL-AFIFY, 65, SAYING:

“Life is very, very difficult. We hear about those (aid trucks) coming in, some say nine vehicles, others say 12 vehicles and it's all lies. We don't see anything sent to us. We don’t have anything, we have nothing. I have a disabled daughter and I need diapers for her. Our situation is very, very difficult and nothing is coming in. There’s no flour in any of the houses or inside any of the camps, people don’t have flour. I don’t know what should one do in this life. We want peace, people, enough of the war, it's enough, two years we've been in war and death.”

6. TENTS FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS

7. MAN LOOKING FROM BUILDING

8. TENTS FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN FROM BEIT HANOUN, KIFAYA AL-AFIFY, 65, SAYING:

“Even the amount (of aid) they are speaking about and we hear of is not enough for anyone. It’s not enough for even one group of people. People would fight over it, even if it comes, people would fight over it. I wish (aid) would just come and people could share among each other. One can’t tolerate what’s happening. We’re fed up. We want to go back to our cities, our homes and our lives. We want life to be back to normal as it was before.”

10. VIEW FROM PARTIALLY DESTROYED BUILDING SHOWING MOSQUE SURROUNDED BY TENTS FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS

11. PALESTINIAN, BELAL NAEEM, WALKING WHILE SAYING (Arabic): “As you can see, total destruction and people are laid among piles of waste. It’s a situation that no one on earth can handle.”

12. NAEEM SPEAKING TO WOMAN WHILE WALKING

13. FENCE ON ONE SIDE / TENTS IN FRONT OF PARTIALLY DESTROYED BUILDINGS ON ANOTHER SIDE

14. THREE MEN STANDING IN FRONT OF SERVICE WINDOW

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN, BELAL NAEEM, 53, SAYING:

“Today, they want to illude the world that trucks (of aid) are entering Gaza strip, this is unuseful for the people inside (Gaza). The displaced people in these areas all need food and have malnutrition. When we take children to the hospitals, doctors always say that this has malnutrition and that needs vitamins, food and water.”

16. PEOPLE, INCLUDING CHILDREN, GATHERING WITH BUCKETS

17. CHILD LOOKING ON AS HE FILLS BUCKET WITH HOSE OF WATER

18. CHILD FILLING BUCKETS WITH HOSE OF WATER

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN, JAMAL HASSAN, 46, SAYING:

“Today, we are hearing in the news that aid has entered. We don’t have anything on the Palestinian scene or any aid entering for Palestinians. The real famine, look at it in the (area of) the Islamic University and across the Gaza Strip. Today, children will sleep without dinner and with only one meal, they drink salty water, can you see? This is the real famine that the Palestinian people is now experiencing and no one is giving attention to the people. The talk of (Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and some of his false discourse that the border has been opened and (aid) entered, these are all lies, there’s nothing on the Palestinian front or anything entering through borders.”

20. MAN CARRYING BOY, WALKING AMONG TENTS

21. RUBBLE / DAMAGED BUILDINGS