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In response to mounting global criticism, the Israeli military says it's halting operations for ten hours a day in three densely populated areas of Gaza - Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Al-Muwasi.
The move is aimed at allowing aid deliveries and to refute accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
But for many Palestinians, the daily pause in fighting brings little relief, as food remains scarce and reaching it can be life-threatening.
Rewaa Abu Foul, a resident of Gaza City, recounts the terror of going out in search of something to eat every day, often for nothing.
"We have been going more than once. We have been going for two and a half weeks and we have not been able to get anything. We want the war to end, the siege to be lifted, and aid to reach us. We want bread, we want food and drink. There are children who were run over - when we were walking, the truck passed and we saw one of them get run over. All of this is caused by the siege and the famine we are in."
On Sunday, around 80 trucks from the World Food Program entered Gaza.
The United Nations food agency says it's committed to increasing that number, aiming for 100 trucks a day.
Antoine Renard, the WFP’s Country Director for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, welcomed the limited pause but warns it is far from enough.
"It is a welcome step. ... This is long overdue, and we need still to reiterate how important is the ceasefire. So now we see this as a proper way for us to increase the assistance into Gaza, but it will not be within one single day that we can actually change the current level of starvation that you have currently in Gaza."
Before the latest escalation in the conflict on October 7 2023, Gaza received between 500 and 600 trucks daily, a level UN officials and aid experts say must be reinstated to truly sustain the population of more than two million people.
Mr Renard says consistent, daily access is essential, and so is protection for aid convoys.
He stresses any military presence near humanitarian routes is a threat to aid workers and civilians alike.
"We need also to ensure that there is no armed group whatsoever that are close to our trucks, no gunfire. If population is close to a checkpoint, it's because they require assistance. So, we need to ensure there is no gunfire, it is so important. The last one that is also adamant is that this should not be one-off. We need to have every day 100 trucks just for food. Humanitarian should go higher we should go with at least on the UN side 150 trucks."
Airdrops also resumed over Gaza on Sunday for the first time in months, with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates delivering 25 tonnes of aid.
This comes as Gaza health officials say 41 people were killed from Saturday night into Sunday, including 26 trying to reach aid.
Images of starving children have intensified global criticism of Israel, as the UN warns nearly half a million Gazans face famine-like conditions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it's all a fabrication.
“Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enabled humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza, otherwise there would be no Gazans. And what is interdicted? The supply of humanitarian aid, is one force, Hamas. Again, the reversal of the truth. Hamas robs, steals this humanitarian aid and then accuses Israel of not supplying it.“
Israel has provided no evidence of Hamas stealing aid, something aid agencies on the ground in Gaza say they have not seen.
Ahead of a major international conference on Palestine in New York tonight Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is calling on world powers to act decisively.
"When we think it can’t get worse, it gets worse. Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes. Gaza is a dystopian landscape of deadly attacks and total destruction. Chaotic, militarised distribution centres run by the US- and Israeli-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation are failing utterly to deliver humanitarian aid at the scope and scale needed. More than 1000 people have been killed since the end of May as they tried to get food. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since 7 October, some ten per cent of the entire population."
The conference, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, is expected to be attended by more than 115 countries.
Israel and the United States will not be participating.
Mr Turk went on to renew calls for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas. "The people of the world will judge this conference on what it delivers. I call again for an immediate, permanent ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and all oth[[
ers arbitrarily detained, immediate and unhindered humanitarian access and the delivery of massive humanitarian aid to Palestinians, wherever they are."
The latest escalation began with Hamas’ attack on southern Israel in October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw over 250 taken hostage.
Hamas is still holding 50 of them, over half are believed to be dead.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, with over half of the dead believed to be women and children.
