JERUSALEM/Xinhua
Israel announced on Wednesday the opening of a new route to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the port of Ashdod, in response to international warnings of catastrophic famine in the Palestinian enclave.
Under the new route, aid trucks undergo screening at the port of Ashdod in southern Israel and then enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Located in the border triangle between Israel, Gaza and Egypt, Kerem Shalom was the main transit point for goods between Israel and Gaza before the war.
According to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces, eight World Food Program (WFP) trucks loaded with flour entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday through the new route.
Ashdod is located about 40 km north of Gaza’s northern border with Israel. The new measure allows large volumes of aid destined for Gaza from the sea route to be unloaded and inspected at the port of Ashdod.
Shimon Friedman, spokesman for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said in a video statement from Ashdod that the new route improves the ability to deliver aid to Gaza. Friedman referred to this as “part of the new phase of Israel’s humanitarian campaign. “There is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid we are willing to provide.”
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