The UN announced on Saturday that a total of 248 humanitarian aid trucks had arrived in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas-Israeli truce took effect, 61 of which were carrying medical supplies, food and water to the northern part of the enclave.

Eleven ambulances, three buses and a gurney were delivered to Ash Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, to help with the rapid evacuation of patients, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

According to Israeli authorities, the health facility was the main command center for Hamas operations in the Gaza Strip; the Palestinian Islamist movement denies this.

“The longer the ceasefire lasts, the more aid humanitarian organizations will be able to deliver across the Gaza Strip,” OCHA said, thanking the Palestinian and Egyptian Red Crescent.

The UN agency emphasized that it welcomed “the release of more hostages” yesterday Saturday and repeated its call for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, while expressing the “hope” that “the release of more Palestinian prisoners will bring relief to the families their”.

Israel’s prison service announced overnight that 39 people of Palestinian nationality were freed after Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, freed some twenty hostages under a deal that came into force on Friday.

The Israel/Hamas agreement provides, at least in theory, for a 4-day ceasefire, the release of 50 hostages and the release of 150 prisoners. The truce, which is renewable, also allows humanitarian aid and fuel to be distributed to the Gaza Strip under what was agreed.

For weeks, the UN, international NGOs and several capitals have been calling for a ceasefire or ceasefire to allow urgent humanitarian aid to be distributed to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is described as catastrophic.

According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the October 7 raid by the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip in southern areas of the Israeli territory, while another 240 people were kidnapped.

In retaliation, Israel’s military, whose leadership has vowed to “wipe out” Hamas, relentlessly bombarded the small Palestinian enclave until Friday — the day the cease-fire took effect — and launched a ground operation on October 27.

The Israeli military offensive has claimed the lives of some 15,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including at least 6,150 children, according to Hamas’ health ministry.