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Even if the border entry point with Egypt starts functioning this week, relief agencies confront major difficulties delivering supplies to Gaza City, the region hardest impacted by starvation, according to experts.

Access Challenges

Key roads are virtually impassable due to massive destruction across the conflict-affected area – or continue to be occupied by military units. Any truck that breaks down is likely to be instantly looted.

The primary crossing, the key gateway to the northern territories, destroyed during multiple years of war, has been inactive for many days, and authorities have told NGOs in Gaza that there are no immediate plans to open the border point, per reports from relief personnel.

Destruction in Gaza City

Gaza City was the target of a large-scale military operation begun in August that was continuing when the peace agreement was signed last week.

Devastation in the northern area has been widespread, with complete communities including Beit Lahiya and neighboring towns in devastated as well as many of the peripheral zones of Gaza City.

"Any operation of a access route into Gaza is positive, but we need to make sure we can help civilians where they are," said a policy expert from a humanitarian organization.

Aid Situation

Observers said many of the approximately 300,000 people who have come back to the north from the overcrowded coastal zone where they had been staying during the armed conflict were now "camping" among the ruins of their homes, often without any protection and with insufficient nutrition or hydration.

A representative from a humanitarian body said the devastation in northern Gaza was "overwhelming".

"It is street after street, structure after structure ... there is urgent requirement for clean water. It's pretty harrowing. We need all the crossings operational," the representative, who was in the northern city earlier this week, stated.

Insufficient Access

A community leader based in the northern city said the needs in what used to be the area's active economic and social center were "overwhelming".

"There is hope and faith but there needs to be immediate enhancement on the border points. We didn't witness any significant change on the ground yet," the director stated.

"We are still getting a insufficient volume of aid [and] we are now commencing to understand the extent of damage. Multiple thoroughfares are just full of debris ... there is scarcely a building that is safe. There is damage and live explosives across the region."

Recent Progress

Recently, humanitarian organizations said modest volumes of necessary propane entered Gaza for the first instance in many weeks, along with consignments of wheat, grains and produce. The recent deliveries sent prices in markets decreasing.

In the central town, a community member said there had been noticeable change since the ceasefire.

"Stores are containing food, produce, and produce, although the costs are continuing to be expensive and not affordable for all people," the individual commented.

Winter Requirements

"Our most important needs at present, particularly given the approach of the cold season, are to have a temporary housing to shelter us from the cold weather and cold-weather clothing because the stores do not have sufficient clothing for us or, if they exist, they are extremely limited and prohibitively costly."

Nine internationally-backed bread-making centers in central and southern Gaza have begun working again since the ceasefire.

Assistance Distribution

Trucks were stated to have entered the humanitarian corridor through Israeli territory to Gaza during Wednesday, though specific quantities were uncertain.

The country's media outlet announced that Wednesday's aid deliveries would include food, healthcare equipment, petroleum products, propane and equipment to fix essential services.

"Assistance resources keeps coming into the Gaza territory through the humanitarian corridor and additional routes after security checks," an military representative commented.

Distribution Complications

But tracking the number of trucks could be inaccurate, cautioned a specialist from an international NGO. "We need to know what is in the trucks and how full they are for it to be a truly significant measurement," the expert added.

Commercial operators are transporting convoys of vehicles loaded with chocolate, fizzy drinks and snacks, which have minimal health benefits, while urgent medical support for children or others who have gone without sufficient nutrition for multiple years are scarce.

Medical Status

Within the northern urban center, only few medical centers are working, compared with many in earlier this year.

Numerous organizations have significant funding of humanitarian goods stockpiled around Gaza pending distribution. A humanitarian body assisting local residents across the region for decades has three months' worth of food for the entire population in place to be distributed.

"We possess the resources, the tools and the capabilities ... we only require the permission," said a relief official, recently returned from Gaza.

Diplomatic Aspects

An international initiative specifies that "full" aid should enter Gaza and be allocated through the UN and humanitarian networks, without disruption from either combatant organizations or national security.

This seems to prevent the controversial Israel-backed humanitarian organization which began operations in earlier this year, leading to disorderly situations and multiple fatalities as numerous individuals gathered around its assistance centers.

Relief representatives in Gaza {told|informed