Israel approved the “temporary” delivery
of humanitarian aid into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom border crossing on Friday. The
nation, for the purpose, opened a new route for supplies weeks after global
pressure.
The Gaza Strip is facing dire
humanitarian conditions after more than two months of war, but prior to this decision,
all aid entering the territory had to pass through the Rafah crossing on its
border with Egypt.
Kerem Shalom, which sits on Gaza’s
border with Israel, recently began inspecting shipments of aid bound for the
territory, but the trucks still had to travel to Rafah afterwards to enter.
Israel’s cabinet “approved today a
temporary measure of unloading the trucks on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom
crossing” in order to increase the amount of aid getting into the territory,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“The cabinet’s decision determines that
only humanitarian aid arriving from Egypt will be transferred into the Gaza
Strip this way,” it added.
US National Security Advisor Jake
Sullivan, who was wrapping up a visit to Israel on Friday, called the decision
a “significant step”.
“President (Joe) Biden raised this issue
in recent phone calls with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and it was an important
topic of discussion during my visit to Israel over the past two days,” he said.
United States hoped “this new opening
will ease congestion and help facilitate the delivery of life-saving
assistance,” Sullivan added.
AFP
