Hello and welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London.

I'm Tim Franks. And we're beginning in Gaza with what humanitarian agencies say are faint glimmers of a reprieve.

The news is not of a ceasefire, but of what Israel calls today's 10-hour pause in military activity in parts of the enclave.

A news not of the 5 to 600 trucks surveyed the agencies say needed each day to fend off mass starvation, but more than had been coming in up to now.

To be precise, on Sunday, when this new system began,

120 trucks, at least according to the Israeli military body, it's called Cogat, which oversees

these matters. Israel has long accused Hamas of trying to divert aid and of the UN not doing

enough to supply it. But at the same time, Israeli ministers have talked about

squeezing or even entirely blocking aid to Gaza's more than two million Palestinians

in order to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Such a tactic has caused what the United

Nations describes as man-made starvation, to which the Israeli government

spokesman, David Menser, had this to say just before we came on air.

Over 2508 trucks entered Gaza in the last week alone. That's 2508 trucks which have entered

Gaza in the last week alone. 600 trucks have already been distributed by the UN and other international agencies,

but of course hundreds more are waiting at the crossings ready to go.

Now, this aid includes food, water, medicine and medical equipment,

and it's been facilitated by Israel and the Israel

defence forces. So the question is, if aid is not reaching civilians, who is blocking it? Hamas,

of course, which is why the Prime Minister spoke yesterday about new safe routes, but aid only works if it reaches civilians. So Israel expects

the UN and international agencies to stop the blaming and start delivering.

Olga Cherovko is the spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,

and she's in the central Gaza City of Dera-Bala.

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