TEL AVIV, November 24. /TASS/. At least 80 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip via the Rafah checkpoint on Thursday, the Times of Israel newspaper reported.

The delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave began on October 21, two weeks after the escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well. As reported earlier, Hamas and Israel had reached an agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt on a four-day humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip.

On November 22, Hamas reported reaching an agreement with Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip that would last four days. The movement confirmed that the agreements envisage the release of 50 women, children and teenagers held in the enclave in exchange for the release of 150 women, children and teenagers from Israeli prisons.

According to Taher al-Nunu, spokesman for Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, the agreement on a temporary humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip provides for at least 200-300 trucks with humanitarian aid to the residents, including eight fuel trucks, entering the enclave.