Israel said on Friday it had stepped up its efforts to supply people in the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid. On Thursday, 276 lorries carrying food and medicine travelled to the embattled coastal strip, the Israeli COGAT authority responsible for contacts with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid announced on Friday. On the same day, 144 pallets of food were also dropped from the air. A further 700 lorries had passed security checks and were waiting behind the Kerem Shalom checkpoint in the Gaza Strip for UN aid organizations to take over the distribution of the relief supplies, COGAT added….