Trucks carrying goods for Gaza will in future also be able to use the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the Israeli Cogat authority, which is responsible for contacts with the Palestinians, and the military announced on Monday evening.
However, as with the previously used Nitzana crossing, the trucks will not drive directly into the Gaza Strip. Instead, they head for the Rafah crossing via Egypt. Israel inspects trucks at its border crossings to prevent weapons from being smuggled. Water, food, tents and medical supplies can be brought to Gaza.
“We would like to emphasize that no deliveries from Israel enter the Gaza Strip,” said the statement from Cogat and the army. “Humanitarian aid to Gaza will continue to be channeled exclusively through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt.”
Israel rejects humanitarian ceasefire
Aid organizations speak of a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Because of the ongoing fighting, it is almost impossible to deliver aid to those in need, they emphasize. According to the Palestinian relief organization UNRWA, almost 1.9 million people are on the run within the Gaza Strip – more than 80 percent of the population.
They are huddled together in the south of the Gaza Strip under indescribable conditions and in very small spaces. Many people there are not safe from the fighting between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas. Israel rejects calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed. In addition, 240 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip, some of whom were released during a temporary ceasefire.
