JERUSALEM: Israel’s army announced the opening on Tuesday (Nov 12) of an additional aid crossing into Gaza, on the eve of a US-imposed deadline to improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory.
“As part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip, the ‘Kissufim’ Crossing was opened today,” the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories.
“The operation … includes the delivery of food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment to central and southern Gaza,” they said, adding it involved the military, COGAT and defence ministry.
“The IDF (Israeli army), through COGAT, will continue to operate in accordance with international law to facilitate and ease the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel it had until Nov 13 to improve aid delivery to Gaza or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
The letter was sent weeks before the Nov 5 US presidential election won by Donald Trump, who has promised to give Israel freer rein.
Although outgoing President Joe Biden had repeatedly urged Israel to deliver more humanitarian aid and protect civilians, he mostly stopped short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
