BEIRUT, February 26. /TASS/. About 98 trucks with humanitarian supplies for Gaza Strip residents arrived daily in the Palestinian enclave in February, which is half as many as in January, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a report.

"February saw very little aid coming in, with on average nearly 98 trucks entering per day, a 50 per cent reduction in supplies entering Gaza compared to January 2024," the report reads.

Aid delivery to the Palestinian enclave has been hampered by security restrictions and the temporary closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings. According to the agency, the security situation at the checkpoints was exacerbated by Israeli airstrikes in the checkpoint areas, which killed "several Palestinian policemen."

The agency also reported that the number of its workers who have died since the conflict in the Middle East began has risen to 158.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. 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 declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.