With the seizure of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, Israel has now closed two key crossings for aid into Gaza, prompting strong warnings from international agencies and officials said that this move could worsen the already serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza. surround.
Since the start of the war, Israel has limited aid into the Gaza Strip to its people. The two border gates are strictly controlled: Kerem Shalom and Rafah, both approach the south of this land.
But Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing after a Hamas attack on Sunday killed four soldiers in the area, then launched an attack on Tuesday that damaged the Rafah border crossing along the border with Ai. Egypt is closed.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office, said in a news conference that Israel had “blocked” two vital routes bringing aid into Gaza. If fuel cannot reach the area for a while, he added, “that would be a very effective way to send humanitarian work to its grave.”
The main United Nations agency assisting Palestinians in Gaza said Tuesday that “the catastrophic famine that people, especially in northern Gaza, will face will be much worse” if the Aid deliveries across the Rafah border were interrupted.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned Rafah’s operation “in the strongest terms” and said on Tuesday afternoon that Israel’s control of the border had jeopardized the delivery of humanitarian aid as well as the transporting aid goods. the possibility of Gazans leaving the strip for medical treatment.
“This dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than one million Palestinians, who rely heavily on this route as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip,” the organization said in a statement.
Israel opened the border crossing at Kerem Shalom on the border with Gaza in December following pressure from the United States to speed up the flow of humanitarian aid. However, Israeli protesters still regularly gather at the border gate. try to block the aid convoy from entering this area in hopes of putting pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.
Under pressure from the Biden administration after Israeli airstrikes killing seven aid workersIsrael said last month that it would reopen the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza and that shipments to the area would be accepted at the Israeli port of Ashdod. On May 1, when the Erez border crossing first opened, Israel said 30 aid trucks passed through.
Figures from the United Nations show that on Sunday, the most recent day for which data is available, 128 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing and none went through Rafah. With the closure of these two crossings, it was not immediately clear how much aid was delivered to Gaza through other avenues on Tuesday. COGAT, the Israeli agency that oversees aid deliveries into Gaza, speak on Tuesday that 60 trucks passed through the Erez intersection.
Israel imposes strict checks on incoming aid to prevent anything that might help Hamas, which it has pledged to eliminate. Since the war began, most aid to Gaza has been delivered through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Aid groups and foreign diplomats reported the inspection create a knotand has accused Israel of arbitrariness refuse aid and systematically limit deliveries. Israel has rejected those assertions, blaming aid groups’ logistical shortfalls and a recent increase in the number of trucks entering the strip.
Nick Cumming-Bruce, Vivian Yee And Matthew Mpoke Bigg Report contributions.
