Israel delivered fuel on Monday to a U.N. aid agency in the Gaza Strip, a day after the organisation said fuel shortages would force it to halt food deliveries to many refugees in the Palestinians enclave.

Peter Lerner, spokesman for Israel's military coordinator for Gaza, said the fuel was piped into the Gaza Strip "as requested" by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid to about a third of Gaza's population.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the fuel would be enough to continue their food delivery operations for approximately 20 days...

In the past 24 hours, there were two intensive barrages of Kassam rocket attacks aimed at Sderot and the western Negev communities. Two rockets landed in Sderot, hitting a cemetery and damaging headstones while one hit a supermarket, causing structural damage. There were 5 shock victims. Today there were three hits in Sderot, including one that landed in agricultural lands near the Sapir College.

Also today, 75 humanitarian aid trucks carrying vaccines, electric wires, hygiene and food products and other materials were transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Sufa crossing point.

Israel is facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip while at the same time it is being attacked from that territory. Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for these attacks and their consequences.