Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the war government had temporarily agreed to unload the trucks at the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, instead of returning them to the Rafah crossing.
He added that returning the trucks to the Rafah crossing created a traffic jam and prevented the implementation of an agreement between Israel and the United States.
Netanyahu's office was referring to the prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas, which was brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States and included a special clause for bringing aid into Gaza in the amount of 200 trucks per day.
The Rafah crossing can enter only 100 trucks per day.
The Kerem Shalom crossing was closed after an attack by Hamas on October 7.
Aid is delivered only through the Rafah crossing in Gaza with Egypt, after being inspected at the Al-Auja crossing between Israel and Sinai, which is a relatively far crossing from the Gaza Strip, to which trucks return later, which takes a long time.
Two days ago, Israel began security inspection of trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing, which shortened the waiting time.
The White House welcomes
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said shortly after concluding a visit to Israel that the United States welcomes Israel's decision to open the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza to humanitarian aid.
“We welcome this important step,” Sullivan added. He stated that he was informed of the decision before he left Israel.
The White House announced that one of the terms of Sullivan's visit to Israel was to ensure an increase in the flow of aid to the poor and besieged Gaza Strip, 70 days after the outbreak of the war.
The senior American official welcomed the increased coordination between the United Nations, Egypt, and other partners to deliver and distribute humanitarian aid to the Strip.
The situation is extremely harsh
On the ground, it appears that the aid reaching Gaza is very scarce and does not meet the needs of the population.
In a demonstration of the harsh conditions in Gaza, residents spoke of begging for bread, paying the price of one can of beans about 50 times more than usual, and slaughtering a donkey to feed families.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said that hungry people were stopping the agency's aid trucks in Gaza to take food themselves, making it almost impossible to continue providing aid.
Lazzarini told reporters during a refugee event in Geneva: “People stop aid trucks, take food and eat it immediately. This shows how desperate and hungry they are,” according to Reuters.
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