JERUSALEM: Five Israeli human rights groups that took Israel to court over restrictions on aid to war-torn Gaza said Friday the state's insistence that it has met its obligations was "incomprehensible."

Gisha and four other Israeli non-profit organisations have petitioned the supreme court demanding that the government specify what measures the executive branch is taking to step up aid deliveries to Gaza, where the United Nations warns famine is looming.

Following an initial hearing last month, the court asked the government to answer follow-up questions before a fresh hearing scheduled for Sunday.

In a second update provided to the court this week, the government maintained the steps it has taken so far to facilitate the entry of relief items to Gaza went "above and beyond" its obligations.

"It is inconceivable that the respondents, who admit to not having even the faintest idea about the extent of the aid required for residents of the Gaza Strip, are claiming that they have fulfilled their obligations - and even beyond," the groups said in a response published by Gisha Friday.

They said the shortages evident inside Gaza indicated "that the respondents are not meeting their obligations, not to the required extent nor at the necessary speed."

Aid organisations have long complained of obstacles to getting relief to those in need inside Gaza.

But Israel has insisted it does not block relief entering Gaza and that any shortages are the result of the inability of aid agencies to distribute it to those in need.

The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, trumpeted "a great surge in the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza" in April.

In total, it said, more than 6,000 trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and tents crossed into the Palestinian territory last month.

"There is no limit to the amount of aid that can be facilitated into Gaza, and the month of April proved it," it said on X.

That has not been the experience of UN agencies, however, which complain of persistent obstacles.

The UN humanitarian office OCHA said this week that only 52 of 94 aid missions to northern Gaza requested in April were facilitated by Israeli authorities, while more than a quarter were impeded and 10 percent denied, with others cancelled due to logistical constraints.

Hamas's October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 34,600 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

 -AFP