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JERUSALEM / ANKARA

After nearly 80 days of a crippling siege, Israel will allow only nine aid trucks for Gaza’s 2.4 million population, Israeli media said on Monday.

"Nine trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including baby food, will enter Gaza via Israel in the coming hours," Ghassan Alian, who heads the Israeli army’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Office, told Army Radio.

The radio said the aid trucks would reach warehouses of international organizations, which would distribute them to Palestinians.

Israel has kept all crossings into Gaza closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to government, human rights and international reports.

Nearly 2.4 million people in the enclave live completely dependent on humanitarian aid, according to World Bank data.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that Tel Aviv will permit the entry of “a basic quantity of food” for Gaza’s population “to prevent the emergence of a hunger crisis.”

He said that a famine “could jeopardize the continuation of Operation Gideon's Chariot,” referring to a new phase of Israel’s ground offensive in northern and southern Gaza.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, citing an unnamed Israeli official, said the measure is temporary and expected to last roughly one week, pending the full establishment of aid distribution centers -- mostly in southern Gaza and supervised by the Israeli military and run by US security contractors.

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.