Through one gate and over a dirt road, an opening in the massive fence line appeared.
A couple of Israeli soldiers manned the barricade, with a water cooler perched behind them on a concrete block.
As the convoy passed beyond the security, something of a no-man's-land emerged ahead of another 18-foot fence.
This was the first couple of metres inside Gaza — the part of the war-ravaged strip Israel wants the world to see, far away from the utter devastation of what were sprawling towns and cities 22 months ago.
Among the mounds of dirt and rubbish, with the occasional stray dog roaming around, a few dozen large trucks appeared in the distance.
Some had bullet holes in the windscreen, evidence of the chaos further inside the strip.
Many were still fully laden with pallets bearing the flags of donors — Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the European Union.
Driving along the dirt road, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Command SUVs kicked up dust.
At first, it was brown and beige. Occasionally, it turned white as the vehicles drove over piles of flour spilt from sacks that had fallen off the trucks.
The road had clearly been churned up from heavy traffic. But it smoothed out as the convoy, which included social media influencers, approached a large fenced-off clearing.
That area was the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
First time the ABC joins an IDF embed in Gaza
Despite repeated requests, it was the first time the ABC had gained access to Gaza with the IDF since the start of the war — opportunities semi-regularly offered to other international media outlets, particularly from the US.
There is no denying that such "embeds", as they are called, are highly choreographed and controlled.
But the trip was also an opportunity to gain access to a site Israel is using to prosecute its case it is trying to feed the population of Gaza — an argument the humanitarian community, and world leaders, argue is full of holes.
Israel has not allowed international media to independently enter Gaza since the start of the war, and has repeatedly rejected calls to allow access to the strip, arguing it is too dangerous for journalists to operate.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents international media operating in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, is challenging the restrictions in Israel's Supreme Court.
Inside the aid depot, the booms of shelling could be heard in the distance.
Over the next fence line were the ruins of what was once the city of Rafah — an area totally controlled by the IDF, which had razed it to the ground, with satellite imagery confirming significant earthworks in the area.
The aid depot was quite full. Rows and rows of pallets were lined up with everything from tinned tomatoes and beans, to toilet paper and toothpaste.
Large bottles of sunflower oil were resting on the ground alongside sacks of flour. Some of the packaging was falling apart, evidence the supplies had been lying there for quite a while.
In some corners, there was an odour signifying food had spoiled in the hot summer sun.
Aid depot 'something of an airline check-in desk'
Israel is using the scenes at Kerem Shalom to push its argument it is letting aid into the strip, but that the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have not followed through on their part of the deal.
One IDF staffer said the military viewed the depot as something of an airline check-in desk.
Pallets of food, like suitcases, were brought in and registered, then it was up to baggage handlers to get them to their destination.
Israel believes its responsibility for the aid ends the moment it "checks in" the supplies.
But the humanitarian community has consistently poured criticism on that, saying it is an example of Israel avoiding its obligations, and that it has been too difficult and too dangerous to make those deliveries.
In the week leading up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to partially ease aid restrictions and allow for so-called "secure corridors" to be established in Gaza, the World Food Programme (WFP) detailed the delays.
WFP made 138 requests to Israeli authorities to travel to Kerem Shalom and the northern aid depot near the Zikim crossing, but only 76 of those requests were approved.
When the green light was given, WFP said it took up to 46 hours for some of those convoys to make the journey — a long time, considering Gaza is less than 50 kilometres north to south.
Current rate of convoy deliveries
Israel is right to state that more aid is entering the strip daily, since the partial easing of restrictions in late July.
On Tuesday, 300 trucks entered Gaza and another 300 truckloads were picked up for distribution inside the strip.
But it is still far fewer trucks making it across the border compared to the figures before October 2023, when the war began.
Humanitarian agencies say the situation is so dire across Gaza, after months of Israel's total humanitarian blockade and its decision to cut the UN out of the distribution model, that the current rate of deliveries is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed.
The convoys that are making it through the strip are often swarmed by desperate Palestinians. Local medics said more than 20 were killed in one such incident on Wednesday, while there were another five deaths from starvation.
Palestinian health authorities said the death toll from hunger was rapidly approaching 200.
Pro-Israel influencers push message
The ABC joined the "embed" along with an Israeli media outlet, an Israeli writer and a handful of social media influencers.
Israel is accusing the international media of swallowing Hamas propaganda and failing to put the message of places like Kerem Shalom out to the world, and is now employing alternative means of spreading that word.
As images of starving Gazan children started dominating headlines across the world, a flurry of social media posts, telling a very different story, also started appearing online.
The posts were all filmed inside Gaza — an area that cannot be accessed without the approval of the Israeli military — and showed stockpiles of food and aid waiting to be delivered inside the strip.
Each of the posts contained a consistent message defending Israel, taking aim at the United Nations and blaming the group for manufacturing a hunger crisis in Gaza.
"United Nations is supposed to deliver this food to the Palestinians in Gaza. But they're not doing that. What they do is blaming Israel of starving the Gaza population," one post from an influencer said.
The people posting these updates were not internationally accredited journalists, who, for nearly two years, have been repeatedly denied requests to independently access Gaza to document the war.
Instead, the rare trip inside the strip included several pro-Israeli influencers, who in turn delivered coverage that aligned with Israeli military messaging.
"The humanitarian aid is sitting in the sun waiting for the UN and international organisations to come and pick it up," the Israeli military posted in a video shot in the same location.
The influencer posts had no response from the United Nations, which has repeatedly said its attempts to access the aid being held at border crossings have been impeded and sometimes blocked by Israel, and that Israel has failed to provide secure routes for aid distribution.
Several media outlets, including AP and the Wall Street Journal, also visited the site and reported the UN's position.
The Israeli military would not provide the ABC with a list of the influencers allowed in and did not respond to questions on whether the influencers were asked to go there by the IDF or the Israeli government.
But the practice is well-known inside Israel as Hasbara, a term used to describe pro-Israel advocacy.
Last month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the Israeli foreign minister was funding a tour of Israel for 16 US social media influencers, encouraging them to create content messages that aligned with Israeli government policy.
