JERUSALEM/GAZA/PARIS/SANAA - Five UN aid trucks entered war-torn Gaza on Monday, a unit under Israel's Defense Ministry said, a day after Israel agreed to lift over two months of blockade and allow limited relief into the enclave – a step the UN considered far from adequate to meet dire humanitarian needs in Gaza.

The trucks loaded with aid, including baby formula, passed through the Kerem Shalom border crossing after undergoing security inspections, according to the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), an official Israeli unit responsible for civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance in Gaza while making every effort to ensure the aid does not fall into Hamas' hands," COGAT said in a post on social media platform X.

However, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said on X that the trucks were "a drop in the ocean", stressing the aid "must reach the civilians who need it so urgently, and we must be allowed to scale up".

ALSO READ: UN: Conflict and climate drive record global hunger in 2024

Earlier on Monday, Hamas' media office said that to avert a full-scale humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the entry of 500 aid trucks is required at a daily minimum. In addition, the enclave needs 50 fuel trucks per day to operate bakeries, hospitals, and water and sewage stations, which have shut down due to the Israeli blockade since March 2.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would allow the entry of a "minimal and basic" quantity of aid into Gaza to prevent "images of mass starvation". The decision comes amid a recommendation by the Israeli military, pressure from Israel's close allies, and increasing international criticism over the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The aid entered as Israel launched its new military campaign, dubbed Gideon's Chariots, over the weekend. Israeli officials said the campaign's objectives include seizing key parts of Gaza, pushing a majority of its population further south, and resuming humanitarian aid distribution under stricter Israeli oversight.

The Israeli military announced on Monday that it had struck 160 locations across Gaza in the past hours, targeting militants, anti-tank missile launchers, military infrastructure, and a weapons depot. It also reported dismantling a tunnel in southern Gaza and hitting a structure in Nuseirat, central Gaza, which it said has served as a Hamas command and control center.

At least 136 people were killed by Israeli strikes over the past day, bringing the overall death toll since the war began on Oct 7, 2023, to 53,475, the Gaza-based health authorities reported on Monday.

READ MORE: Arab leaders demand Gaza ceasefire, reject displacement of Palestinians

According to local and medical sources, at least seven Palestinians, including a field commander, were killed on Monday during an Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

The sources told Xinhua that an Israeli special force disguised in civilian clothing infiltrated the al-Katiba neighborhood in the city and killed Ahmed Sarhan, a commander of the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades affiliated with the Popular Resistance Committees, a loose grouping of armed factions in Gaza and the West Bank.

The sources said the force detained Sarhan's wife and children before withdrawing from the area.

Local residents told Xinhua separately that Israeli warplanes and helicopters launched over 30 strikes targeting several locations, including Al-Qarara, Al-Fukhari, and Bani Suheila areas, as well as the surroundings of Al-Aqsa University and Street 5.

They said that one of the airstrikes hit a security facility within the Nasser Medical Complex, resulting in material damage and causing distress among medical staff and patients.

In a press statement on Monday, the Israeli army said it struck over 160 targets across Gaza in the past hours in coordinated operations, adding that infrastructure linked to Palestinian armed groups, including launch sites, military facilities, and tunnel routes, had been attacked.

ALSO READ: Israeli military: Gaza offensive expanded with airstrikes, ground troop deployment

The military also said that an Israeli soldier was killed during combat in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, marking the first Israeli fatality since the launch of a major ground operation over the weekend.

The military identified the soldier as Sergeant Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22, from the West Bank settlement of Harasha. His death comes as Israel intensifies its offensive in Gaza under "Operation Gideon's Chariots", which began on Saturday.

France, Britain, Canada urge Gaza truce

Leaders of France, Britain and Canada on Monday voiced strong opposition to the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and unimpeded humanitarian access.

In a joint statement released by the French presidential office, the Elysee, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged the Israeli government to halt its military operations and immediately allow life-saving aid to reach civilians in Gaza.

"The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable," the leaders said, warning that blocking essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.

READ MORE: Israel will take control of all Gaza, Israeli PM says

Regarding the West Bank, the leaders demanded an immediate halt to Israeli settlement expansion, warning that continued settlement activity would prompt targeted sanctions.

France, Britain and Canada also reiterated their commitment to recognizing a Palestinian state as a step toward achieving a two-state solution.

Houthis say to block Israel's Haifa port

Yemen's Houthi group announced Monday that it will start a campaign of targeting the Israeli port of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, in response to the Israeli ongoing offensive and blockade on Gaza, warning commercial ships to keep away.

"All companies with ships present in or heading to the port of Haifa should take into consideration the contents of this statement and what will be stated later," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

ALSO READ: Yemen's Houthis threaten to target Israeli airports in coming hours

He added that "all our measures and decisions related to the Israeli enemy will cease once the aggression on Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted".

The latest announcement followed an Oman-brokered ceasefire agreement between the group and the United States. Under the terms of the reported agreement, the group agreed to suspend attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea in exchange for a halt to US airstrikes on Houthi positions.