Israel announced that humanitarian aid directed to the Gaza Strip will be examined at two additional crossings starting Tuesday, before being transported to enter the Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Following the outbreak of war with Hamas on October 7, Israel tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip, cutting off supplies of water, electricity, fuel, and food.
The Israeli army said on the “X” website that checks will be conducted at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings before sending trucks through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, which will increase “the speed of examining humanitarian aid and sending it to Gaza.”
Israel confirmed that no new direct crossings will be opened, but this comes “to improve the volume of security checks for aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing and will enable us to double the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.”
A joint statement issued by the army and the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories (Cogat) confirmed that “trucks carrying water, food, medical supplies and shelter equipment will be examined” at the two crossings.
According to the statement, the aid “will be transferred from there to international relief organizations in the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing in Egypt.”
The statement stressed, “We would like to emphasize that no supplies will enter the Gaza Strip from Israel and that all humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip will continue to enter through the Rafah crossing in Egypt.”
The Rafah crossing is the only land crossing into the Gaza Strip that is not under direct Israeli control.
During the past weeks, the Hebrew state allowed aid convoys to enter through the crossing, but humanitarian organizations and the United Nations confirm that it is much less than what is needed by the approximately 2.4 million people who live in the Gaza Strip.
On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on the Israeli border towns with the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, most of whom died on the first day, according to the Israeli authorities.
Israel responded by bombing the Gaza Strip and launched a ground operation on the 27th of the same month. More than 18,000 people were killed in the Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.
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2023-12-11 23:17:15
