UN relief aid for Palestinians

New programmes have begun in the Palestinian territories to supply emergency food relief to more people.

Officials of the United Nations food agency said they now hoped to give food aid to a quarter-of-a-million people and the scheme would last three months.

Distribution efforts began at Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip today. UN estimates say about one-third of Palestinians -- roughly a million people -- now live in poverty.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service