The United Nations said Tuesday it had distributed food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect but warned that the humanitarian situation remained critical.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said it aimed to reach 1.6 million people in the enclave with parcels providing enough food for a family for 10 days.

“Three and a half weeks into the ceasefire in Gaza, we have distributed food parcels to around one million people across the Gaza Strip,” said WFP’s Middle East spokeswoman, Abeer Etefa. “That’s part of the broad operation to push back hunger in Gaza.”

Speaking from Cairo to reporters in Geneva, Etefa said all crossing points into Gaza should be opened to allow more aid deliveries, adding that no reason had been given for the continued closure of northern crossings with Israel.

“To get operations running at the level required, we really need more access, more border crossings to be opened, and more access to key roads inside Gaza,” she said.

The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on October 10.

Etefa said WFP had so far opened 44 of the 145 planned food distribution points across the territory and was scaling up operations daily.

About 700,000 people are now receiving fresh bread each day from 17 WFP-supported bakeries—nine in southern and central Gaza and eight in the north. The agency plans to increase the number to 25.

While food consumption levels had slightly improved due to increased humanitarian and commercial deliveries, they remained far below pre-conflict levels, Etefa said.

Households were still largely surviving on cereals and pulses, with meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruit consumed “extremely rarely,” she added.

WFP spokeswoman in Gaza, Nour Hammad, said commercial food prices remained far beyond the reach of most families. “An apple now costs as much as a kilogramme of apples did before the war broke out in October 2023,” she said.

According to WFP, only about half the required food supplies had been brought into Gaza so far. “The needs are overwhelming. We are in a race to save lives.” Etefa said.

She said WFP trucks were currently only able to enter through the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings, severely limiting aid deliveries, particularly to northern Gaza.

“We actually haven’t been given clear answers on why the northern crossing points are still closed,” she said.