Efforts to get desperately needed humanitarian aid to war-wracked northern Gaza gained momentum with the European Union increasing pressure for the creation of a sea route from Cyprus to Gaza and British Foreign Minister David Cameron saying that Israel’s allies were losing patience. Aid groups say many of the estimated 3,00,000 people still living there have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The UN says that one in six children younger than 2 in the north suffers from acute malnutrition.

Amid the global pressure, Israeli officials said the government will begin allowing aid to move directly from its territory into northern Gaza and will also cooperate with the creation of the sea route from Cyprus. Israel would allow 20 to 30 aid trucks to enter northern Gaza from Israel on Friday, the start of more regular deliveries via that route.