Attacks on aid convoys in the Gaza Strip by looters and armed gangs could decline as humanitarian relief floods the area after the truce takes effect, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA has said.

According to Reuters, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency has 4,000 truckloads of aid — half of which are food and flour — ready to enter the Palestinian enclave. The UN World Food Programme has said it has enough food ready to feed more than a million people for three months.

“If we start to flood Gaza with assistance … that might also mitigate, in fact, this type of tension,” said Lazzarini. “But obviously we need also an orderly, uninterrupted, unhindered access to the people.”

Lazzarini also said logistical capacity was limited within Gaza, so it would help if bilateral aid could be delivered directly to its destination in the enclave.

UNRWA data showed just 523 aid trucks have entered Gaza in January, down sharply from 2,892 in December. Aid is dropped off on the Gaza side, where it is picked up by the UN and distributed.