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The bombing may have stopped - for now at least - but the hard questions about Gaza's humanitarian crisis are only just beginning to emerge.

The most pressing issue is how aid agencies are going to meet the enormous needs facing them. Even before the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants were enduring their worst conditions for over 40 years, agencies said last year, with 80 percent of the population dependent on food aid.

Now, an estimated 50,000 people are homeless, with tens of thousands lacking power, water and sanitation, as well as food and medical treatment.

As the first images of the toll on Gaza's infrastructure are published, it's clear the scale of the destruction is huge. Early estimates from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics calculate that 4,100 houses were destroyed and a further 17,000 seriously damaged.

Beyond the traditional humanitarian basics of food, shelter and water, aid agencies are determined to meet some of the psychological needs of the traumatised population, with the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) identifying mass counselling and education as priorities.

Now that the two parallel ceasefires called by Israel and Hamas have brought relative peace, aid agencies have begun pouring into Gaza. But so far, very few Gazans have received any aid at all - just 11 percent, according to CARE.

BLOCKADE TO HAMPER RECONSTRUCTION

The main obstacle is Gaza's border crossings with Israel, closed since Hamas took power 18 months ago and a major source of Israeli anxiety about the smuggling of Hamas weapons. The Israeli authorities are allowing some humanitarian supplies through but say fully reopening the borders is out of the question while their enemy remains in power.

The issue is already hampering prospects for reconstruction. On his first assessment mission into Gaza, U.N. emergency relief coordinator John Holmes made it plain that rebuilding simply won't be possible if the blockade prevents construction materials getting into the area.

Meanwhile, disputes are already erupting about who should be in charge of the reconstruction effort, which is likely to cost billions, according to the United Nations. Israel, its western allies and the EU want at all costs to prevent aid falling into Hamas hands by going directly into Gaza.

Their Fatah rivals, the Palestinian Authority, would love the job, but their geographical and political base in the West Bank means they lack the local contacts and credibility to get aid to the right beneficiaries, some argue.

One solution proposed by the United Nations is to set up an interim international committee to oversee the delivery of aid so that reconstruction can proceed despite the disagreements. But this has been greeted unenthusiastically, with some claiming it would deepen the split between the rival Palestinian governments.

In the wider world, politics and aid are already so intertwined that, in launching an appeal to the public to meet Gaza's immediate humanitarian needs, the Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) felt it necessary to remind prospective donors that humanitarian agencies' brief is to remain neutral.

Meanwhile, the BBC - criticised for bias in its coverage of the conflict by both sides - has refused to advertise the appeal for fear of compromising public perception of its impartiality.

UNRWA AND ISRAEL AT ODDS

And there's likely to be more trouble ahead in the fraught relationship between the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Israeli authorities.

The three-week military campaign saw unprecedented attacks by Israeli forces on U.N. facilities, including UNRWA's Gaza headquarters, warehouses full of aid and U.N. schools where hundreds of civilians were seeking refugee from the fighting.

Each incident drew protests from the United Nations, but despite apologies and reassurances from the Israeli authorities including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, further attacks followed, until it seemed as if a pattern of "attack, apologise, attack" was repeating itself.

While the fighting continued, U.N. officials stopped short of suggesting the attacks were deliberate. But on a visit to Gaza following the ceasefire, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was visibly angry, and demanded an explanation for the "outrageous and totally unacceptable attack on the United Nations" during the conflict.

Days before, senior UNRWA officials had called for an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Israel - calls which have been echoed by others in the humanitarian community like Amnesty International.

One darkly comic incident neatly illustrates the growing divergence between UNRWA and Israeli perspectives.

Ban Ki-moon, on being introduced to Israeli politician Isaac Herzog during the last days of Operation Cast Lead, misheard his title of "minister for welfare". "Minister of Warfare?" he queried, before being quickly put right by an official. Herzog has been appointed by the Israeli Prime Minister to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza.

As the post-war scrutiny of Israel's conduct towards civilians and aid agencies - including its allegedly illegal use of white phosphorus - continues, it seems certain that tensions will mount between the two parties, which have such a huge impact on the lives of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza.

Even if those involved can't say so explicitly, it seems likely that, for the foreseeable future, humanitarianism in Gaza may be the continuation of the war by other means.

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