Israel has allowed five trucks carrying desperately needed aid to enter Gaza, almost 80 days after the Netanyahu government imposed a total humanitarian blockade of the war-ravaged strip.
For weeks, humanitarian organisations have been warning Gaza is teetering on the brink of famine, with Palestinians scrambling for meagre supplies at community kitchens across the strip.
Israel confirmed on Monday evening local time that United Nations trucks carrying items such as baby food had arrived in the territory.
The convoy was searched by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel at the Kerem Shalom crossing, close to the Israel-Egypt border.
"The IDF will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip while making every effort to ensure that the aid does not reach the Hamas terrorist organisation," the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.
Another four trucks have been cleared for entry into Gaza in coming days.
Aid agencies say there are approximately 9,000 aid trucks waiting to enter Gaza.
Netanyahu says aid deliveries in Gaza will shore up support for Israel
Israel has faced condemnation for the blockade of Gaza, announced on March 2, which it insisted was necessary to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining Israeli hostages it held after the deadly October 7 attacks.
On Sunday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced authorities would allow a "basic amount of food" for the population.
He said that was to avoid a hunger crisis in Gaza, and to ensure the IDF's expanded military campaign in the territory was not jeopardised.
In further comments on Monday, Mr Netanyahu suggested Israel's strongest allies, particularly in the United States, could not abide the blockade.
"Our greatest friends in the world … come to me and tell me this: We are giving you all the assistance to complete the victory: weapons, support for your moves to eliminate Hamas, protection in the Security Council," he said in a video posted to social media.
"There is one thing we cannot stand; we cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger."
Israeli officials continue to insist the situation is of Hamas's creation, accusing the group of stealing supplies meant for the broader population.
But while publicly refusing to resile from that sentiment, it has conceded Israeli authorities have to step in.
"From the beginning of the war, Israel has stated clearly — we are monitoring the levels of basic items in Gaza, and we will facilitate the supply of items in low levels in order to avoid shortages," the director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Eden Bar Tal, told reporters in Jerusalem.
"The items to be supplied immediately include flour to the main bakeries operated by international organisations in the Gaza Strip, supplies of items to central kitchens operated by international organisations, baby food, and medical supplies."
Israeli deliveries a stop-gap before new Gaza foundation starts
The deliveries are a stop-gap measure until a new US organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) starts operating distribution sites across the strip in coming weeks.
The IDF would be involved in securing those sites, but officials insist soldiers will have no role in distributing the supplies.
"Israel always complies with international law and with its obligation and statements," Mr Bar Tal said.
"Everyone in the international community should take a decision which side he is on — on Israel's side, or on the Hamas side."
Despite the concession deliveries now needed to be made, the senior Israeli official added claims of famine in Gaza was "propaganda made by Hamas and echoed by irresponsible reporters".
The ABC has asked COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates aid entering Gaza, for further details on the deliveries, including how much aid was sent into Gaza on Monday local time, how much is planned to be delivered in coming days before GHF begins operating, and for a definition of a "basic amount of food" for the Palestinian population.
UK, Canada and France label crisis 'unacceptable'
The delivery of limited aid to Gaza came as the governments of the UK, Canada and France warned their countries would take action if Israel did not stop its renewed military offensive and lifted aid restrictions.
"The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law," a joint statement released by the British government said.
"We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions."
Earlier on Monday, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"It is a really serious, unacceptable, intolerable situation," he said.
"And that's why we are working intensely to coordinate with other leaders how we respond to this because it is intolerable, it is unacceptable, and we will continue to work in that way."
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed those concerns.
"Aid must reach civilians in need immediately and the blockade on Gaza needs to be lifted now because humanitarian aid must never be politicised," she said.
"We are calling for resumption of the ceasefire and the immediate release of the hostages so that a permanent end of the hostilities can be finally achieved."
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the trio's calls.
"By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities," he said in a statement.
"This is a war of civilisation over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved."
UNICEF rejects claims Hamas stealing aid
While aid deliveries of any variety are not going to be knocked back by humanitarian agencies, the United Nations has described the initial commitment from Israel as a "drop in the ocean".
"We shouldn't get to this point — horrors have been normalised for far, far too long in Gaza," UN children's agency UNICEF's global spokesperson, James Elder, told the ABC.
"Legally, it's very, very clear you cannot use starvation as a weapon of war. Now, there are bodies who will determine that.
"The fact is that on the ground we have seen people starving, and that is a brutal, brutal thing — when you see that happen to a child, when that child's body starts to eat its own muscle, then it's fat, and then, as I've seen, a child will grow quiet, and when a child is very, very, very hungry and stops crying, that's when you have starvation."
Mr Elder rejected Israel's argument Hamas had been stealing aid for itself.
"[There's] just no proof, it's very, very frustrating, it is very, very troubling," he said.
"Let's look at incubators, for example — there are a lot of preterm babies and a lot of them are dying, a lot of mums have very stressed children being born preterm.
"We've got dozens of incubators on the other side of the border in trucks that can't come in — the idea that a terrorist group would use these, Hamas would use [these], is just ridiculous."
He said a ceasefire was the most important development needed in Gaza.
