Netanyahu OKs Some Aid

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his decision to resume limited aid to the Gaza Strip after a two-and-a-half-month blockade came after pressure from allies who said they couldn't support Israel's renewed offensive if there are "images of hunger" coming out of the Palestinian territory.

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The announcement raised hope among Palestinians that desperately needed food, medicine and other supplies would enter. Nine aid trucks were authorized to enter Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said, describing the first humanitarian deliveries since Israel partially lifted its blockade as "a drop in the ocean" of what is needed. "Today, nine of our trucks were cleared to enter, via the Kerem Shalom crossing," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement. "But it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed."