As the ceasefire took effect this morning, the convoy entered via the Rafah crossing after Israel eased its siege as part of the truce agreement with Gaza's Hamas rulers, following mediation by Qatar.
Increasing amounts of aid will start to enter Gaza "as soon as possible", Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said. The hope is that the "momentum" from the hostages deal will lead to an "end to this violence", he told reporters.
An RAF transport plane also landed in Egypt with 23 tonnes of humanitarian aid for distribution by UN aid workers in Gaza. "The UK is driving international efforts to support the humanitarian response in Gaza, working closely alongside partners and allies to de-escalate the situation," Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said.
But Israel is vowing to maintain the war until Hamas is extinguished as a threat, once its hostages are freed.
"The war is not over yet," Israel Defence Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee said moments before the ceasefire took effect at 7am local time.
He also urged people in Gaza not to move north during the truce period, amid reports that some Palestinian civilians had tried to venture back towards their homes.
For Palestinian civilians, the end cannot come soon enough. Much of Gaza is in ruins and more than 13,300 people are dead, nearly half of them children.
"God willing, it becomes a total ceasefire," resident Jihan Qanan said in the Gaza city of Khan Younis. "People have had houses brought down on their heads, they've been expelled ... there's no homes, no money, no possessions. The whole world is wrecked." The release of detainees laid bare the combustible politics of the region.
The Palestinian prisoners set to be released by Israel were likely to include boys as young as 14 held without trial for hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers. Thirty-seven of those taken hostage by Hamas were children, including a nine-month-old baby.
"It's deeply concerning that child rights become the pawns of the geopolitics of adults, when you're seeing child hostages swapped for child detainees," James Denselow from Save the Children UK said.
Save the Children has previously said that 86 per cent of Palestinian children detained by Israel had been beaten, and 69 per cent stripsearched. Stone-throwing can carry a 20-year jail sentence.

Food and fuel flow into Gaza as the ceasefire deal finally takes effect

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