British and Irish ministers have called for accelerated flows of aid into the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip during separate visits to the Egyptian capital Cairo, Reuters reports.

Limited deliveries of humanitarian relief have been crossing from Egypt into Gaza since Oct 21, though aid workers say the amount brought into the enclave is a fraction of what is needed.

“We need to speed that up. We need to try and make sure that we’re able to have much better flow of vital provisions through there so that it could get to the people very much in need,” said Andrew Mitchell, Britain’s minister of state for development and Africa, adding that fuel is a current priority.

Israel had refused the delivery of fuel to Gaza, saying it could be used by Hamas, but allowed an initial delivery for UN aid distribution trucks today. No fuel has been allowed in for hospitals or water provision, which have been badly affected by fuel shortages.

“Without question we need a dramatic increase in aid at scale to meet the dire humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza, where a human catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes,” Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told reporters.