Representatives of several international humanitarian organisations welcomed news of a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas but said it was insufficient to address the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Negotiators on Wednesday were still working out details of the pause in fighting, including the amount of supplies that would be allowed in. It was expected to last at least four days and would bring some relief to 2.2 million Palestinians who are running perilously short on water, food and medicine.

The executive director of Unicef, Catherine Russell, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the agency was “positioned to quickly scale up the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid in Gaza”.

But, she said, “this is far from enough” to meet the growing needs of Palestinians.

Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, representatives of other humanitarian organisations said it would take much longer than four days to meet the needs of the civilian population in Gaza.

“This is not humanitarian access. It’s a joke — four days is nothing. We need more,” said Joel Weiler, the executive director of Doctors of the World. Even four weeks would not be enough for “minimum basic humanitarian assistance,” he said. The officials said more time would be needed for the groups to transport aid, set up the infrastructure needed to distribute it, adequately monitor the healthcare needs of patients and route patients to appropriate healthcare providers.

New York Times News Service