Three days after Israel said it would ease its blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, little, if any, of the desperately needed food, fuel and medicine appeared to have reached Palestinians.

Pope Leo XIV says the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, "the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick," must end and food must be allowed in.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days as Israel has intensified air strikes, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Israeli air strikes probably killed Hamas’s Gaza chief last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as he vowed that his ground offensive would continue until the country controlled all of the enclave. The Israeli air force targeted Mohammad Sinwar last week at the European Hospital in southern Gaza in a series of strikes.

Per Israeli officials, 93 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, but experts say that is not nearly enough.

A heated debate was sparked after the United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours unless aid reached them.

The Israeli military on Monday issued an evacuation order for residents of Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, and nearby towns. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on his social medial accounts,