AFP, Gaza City

Israel yesterday said it will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, where aid entered for the first time in more than two months as rescuers reported dozens killed in a newly intensified offensive.

With the Gaza Strip under a total Israeli blockade since March 2, the World Health Organization said the besieged territory’s “two million people are starving”.

Israel, facing mounting criticism over the humanitarian crisis, has announced it would let limited aid into Gaza and said the first five trucks entered Monday, carrying supplies “including food for babies”.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement that nine trucks had been “cleared to enter... but it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who was unable to confirm the exact number of trucks inside Gaza, said that “none of the aid has been picked up” at a designated zone as it was “already dark” and due to “security concerns, we cannot operate in those conditions”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited “practical and diplomatic reasons” for the resumption of aid, saying that “images of mass starvation” could harm the legitimacy of Israel’s war effort.

In southern Gaza, the Israeli military issued an evacuation call to Palestinians in and around Khan Yunis city ahead of what it described as an “unprecedented attack”.

The call came after the military announced it had begun “extensive ground operations” in an expanded offensive against Hamas.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 52 people had been killed in Israeli attacks across the territory.

Netanyahu, in a video posted on Telegram, said that “the fighting is intense and we are making progress.”

“We will take control of all the territory of the strip,” the Israeli leader added.

The UN’s OHCHR rights office decried actions that are “in defiance of international law and tantamount to ethnic cleansing”, citing the latest attacks, displacement, the “methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods” and denial of humanitarian aid.

Netanyahu yesterday said that Israel “will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped”, justifying to his hardline supporters the decision to resume aid.

Israel said its blockade was aimed at forcing concessions from Hamas, while UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.

Meanwhile, twenty-two countries, including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and New Zealand yesterday demanded that Israel immediately “allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza” after the partial lifting of its blockade on the territory.

The joint statement was released as the United Nations said nine aid trucks were authorised to enter Gaza, describing it as a “drop in the ocean” amid the territory’s humanitarian crisis.

The donors’ statement also sharply rejected a reported Israeli plan to replace the previous system of aid distribution in Gaza, which Israeli officials have accused of having ties to Hamas.

The statement demanded that Israel “enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives”.