Palestinians in Gaza were still waiting for aid to arrive, U.N. officials said on Wednesday, two days after the Israeli government said it had lifted an 11-week-old blockade that has brought the Palestinian enclave to the brink of famine.

Plumes of smoke rose Thursday over the northern Gaza Strip where Israel's military urged civilians to evacuate, as rescuers said Israeli strikes across the territory killed more than 50 people.The latest evacuation warning for parts of Gaza City and neighbouring areas came hours after the United Nations said it had begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza -- the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Gaza's health system is at a "breaking point" as Israel's intensified military operations continue, amidst worsening mass population displacement and acute shortages of basic necessities.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days as Israel has intensified air strikes, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Pope Leo XIV says the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, "the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick," must end and food must be allowed in.

The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighbourhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.The warning came hours after the United Nations said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza,

Two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals have been encircled by Israeli troops, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week, as Israel pursued its renewed offensive into the devastated Palestinian territory.

An estimated 14,000 babies could die without essential aid according to the U.N. as Israel military operations intensify.

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave “yet more worrying and saddening.”

People at a displacement camp in Gaza City waited to get their share of food for the day, which some say is insufficient to feed their children.

An Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people in Gaza City late on the evening of Wednesday, May 21, Al Jazeera said. According to Palestinian news reports, a building in front of the school was also damaged.