Following the request of the United States, Israel will allow the delivery of humanitarian aid through a passage in northern Gaza – Diario La Página – 2024-04-07 03:24:43

Israel will allow the “temporary” delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing point, in the north of this Palestinian territory threatened by famine, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this Friday.

The announcement comes after a call between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, who for the first time conditioned his support for Israel on the protection of Palestinian civilians.

The war cabinet authorized the Israeli government to “take immediate steps to increase humanitarian aid to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said. This “will allow us to avoid a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to guarantee the continuation of the fighting and achieve the objectives of the war,” he argued.

In the statement, the prime minister’s office explains that they will authorize aid access through the Israeli port of Ashdod, about 35 km by road from Gaza, and the Erez crossing point, located in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

In turn, the White House urged Israel to “quickly and fully” open the new routes for the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip that were offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after a warning from US President Joe Biden.

“Those steps, including the commitment to open the Ashdod port for direct delivery of assistance to Gaza, the Erez crossing point for a new route reaching northern Gaza, and significantly increasing deliveries from Jordan directly to Gaza , must be realized quickly and fully,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, humanitarian aid has entered the Strip in dribs and drabs and has barely reached the northern part, devastated by fighting and threatened with imminent famine, according to the UN.

Authorities will also allow “increased Jordanian aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing,” a border post in the far south of Israel.

So far, most of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza comes through the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt at the southern tip of the Palestinian enclave.

International pressure on Israel due to the serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza multiplied after the death on Monday of seven workers from the American NGO World Central Kitchen in an Israeli attack.

After the call between Biden and Netanyahu, the United States demanded a “drastic increase” in humanitarian aid to Gaza, with concrete measures “in the coming hours and days.”

“These steps, including a commitment to open the port of Ashdod for direct delivery of aid to Gaza, to open the Erez border crossing for a new aid route reaching northern Gaza, and to significantly increase deliveries from Jordan directly to Gaza, must now be applied fully and quickly,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.