Israel approves the opening of another border crossing to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza

The Government of Israel approved this Friday the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which would thus be added to the assistance delivered for several weeks through the Rafah crossing, on the border between Egypt. and the Palestinian enclave. According to information collected by Israeli media, the trucks will be subjected to inspection on the Israeli side of the crossing, after which they will go to a complex located about 70 meters from the border, where they will unload the goods before returning to Israeli territory.

In this way, trucks will be able to pass from Egypt to the Kerem Shalom pass, crossing Israeli territory, a decision that has already been criticized by some ministers, including the head of the National Security portfolio, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir. . Likewise, the leader of the Yisrael Beitenu opposition party, Avigdor Lieberman, has spoken of a “shameful” vote and has pointed out that “it is a moral, political and security bankruptcy.”. Lieberman recalled that the pass was attacked by “the human monsters” of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) during the October 7 attacks.

The Israeli Parliament, for its part, has also given its approval to the reopening of the crossing. This was announced by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shortly after the United States National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, concluded his visit to Israel.. The president has indicated that Israel committed last month during the truce agreed with Hamas to allow the entry of some 200 trucks of humanitarian aid daily.

“To comply with this agreement, today the Cabinet has approved the entry of trucks into Gaza on the other side of the Kerem Shalom crossing,” the Government previously indicated in a statement in which it did not offer further details on the matter. The United States Government has applauded the decision and has stressed that the president of the North American country, Joe Biden, had previously raised the matter with the Israeli authorities, to whom he had requested its reopening.. “This was an important issue that the president had addressed with Netanyahu in a telephone conversation,” Sullivan said.

Currently, the Rafah border crossing is the only one open to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel imposed a total blockade against the Strip after the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas, which left nearly 1,200 dead and some 240 kidnapped.. In response, Israel launched an offensive against the enclave that has so far left nearly 18,800 dead, and prevented the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other goods.

This has been criticized repeatedly by the UN. The last of them was this Friday. “It is very clear that the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza have been under a total siege, hermetically sealed and locked within a small strip of land for the last two months, and before that as well,” said the director of health emergencies of the World Health Organization (WHO), Mike Ryan. “Right now we cannot do our work because we are blocked and prevented from doing so.”. We have restrictions on who we can have in the country and a huge access problem due to insecurity,” he explained.

Despite this, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Peeperkorn, welcomed the news of the opening of the new border crossing.. “I think now we need to make sure that the trucks carrying aid can go to all places in Gaza and not only to the south, but also to the north,” he said.

Rockets fired at Jerusalem

In the last few hours, at least 63 people have died in bombings in Beit Lahia, Jabalia, Khan Yunis or Rafah; while heavy fighting against Hamas continues in Shujaiya, on the outskirts of Gaza City, where Israeli troops search for hostages. The Israeli Army has claimed to have destroyed a Hamas command post there, “the control center of the Shujaiya Battalion” of the Islamist group, in an operation with aviation, tanks and ground troops.

On the other hand, this Friday Israel declared in Jerusalem the first rocket alert from Palestinian militias in Gaza since October 16, during the first days of the war with Hamas. “After 70 days of constant rocket fire against the entire country, the sirens sound in Jerusalem, when Shabbat arrives,” the mandatory rest for Jews, the Israeli Army has announced on its X social network account.

At the moment there is no evidence of damage in these attacks, which have already been attributed to the Ezzeldin al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, according to a statement collected by the Times of Israel.