Israel will reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, allowing for the gradual entry of humanitarian aid, according to a statement released Monday by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency that administers civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The decision to reopen the crossing comes after it was closed indefinitely following joint Israeli, and U.S. Military actions against Iran. COGAT stated the reopening will occur “under security restrictions that will protect the safety of all those present on both sides of the crossing.”
Prior to the closure, Israel claimed that four times the necessary amount of humanitarian aid was already present in Gaza. However, the distribution of that aid has been a point of contention, with Israeli officials alleging that the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are failing to effectively deliver supplies to civilians. COGAT recently released footage purporting to show hundreds of trucks and stacked boxes of supplies waiting on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, suggesting a bottleneck in distribution rather than a lack of incoming aid.
Colonel Abdullah Halabi, head of COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, has publicly blamed the UN for the stalled deliveries, and suggested that Hamas is leveraging claims of famine for negotiating purposes.
The reopening will be coordinated by the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command, the Authority for Land Crossings, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, according to the COGAT statement. The agency did not detail the specifics of the “tailored mechanism” that will be implemented to manage the flow of aid given the current security situation.
Before the closure, approximately 600 trucks entered Gaza daily, according to the Israeli military. Of those, 45 percent carried commercial goods, 17 percent were from the UN, and 18 percent were from international organizations. Whereas commercial goods continued to enter Gaza even during the recent conflict, their prices remained high, impacting access for a population whose economy has been devastated by ongoing military operations.
The reopening of Kerem Shalom is intended to facilitate the phased entry of humanitarian aid, following a period of disruption to both aid deliveries and medical evacuations. The extent to which aid will actually reach civilians in need remains uncertain, and the security restrictions imposed by Israel could further complicate distribution efforts.
