A shipment of humanitarian aid from Morocco for Palestinians in Gaza has begun entering the besieged enclave via a land route, the first time the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel has been used for aid in five months of warfare, a Moroccan diplomatic source said.

The 40 tonnes of aid was being delivered by truck into northern Gaza along a route that the Rabat government has been able to secure as it had established diplomatic relations with Israel, the source said.

“By securing a land route to deliver aid from within Israel, Morocco shows that its connections in Israel serve the cause of peace and defend the rights of Palestinians,” the source said.

The aid was shipped by air to Israel before it was loaded at the crossing onto trucks operated by the Palestinian Red Crescent, which will ensure it reaches the needy in northern Gaza, the source told Reuters.

The trucks entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing to avoid the complexities of the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt or by airdrop, said the source, who asked not to be named.

“The aid, which coincides with the beginning of the holy month of Ramazan, is sent to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian population, notably the most vulnerable,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.