NNA - The United Nations welcomed Israel's announcement on Sunday of a daily truce in military operations in the southern Gaza Strip, while demanding that this "lead to other concrete measures" to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, a spokesman in Geneva told Agence France-Presse.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said: “We welcome this announcement, but certainly, this matter has not yet translated into more assistance for the population in need.”

“We hope that this will lead to more concrete steps by Israel to resolve long-standing problems that prevent a significant humanitarian response in Gaza,” Laerke added in an email to Agence France-Presse.

He pointed out "the tough conditions in which the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip live, which has not received sufficient humanitarian aid since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas."

The spokesman stressed, "Humanitarian operations in Gaza should be fully facilitated and all obstacles removed. We must be able to deliver aid safely to all parts of Gaza."

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