The government will allow the deliveries through the Erez checkpoint after months of closure
Israel has agreed to allow humanitarian aid deliveries into northern Gaza through the Erez crossing, which had been shut down following an October 7 Hamas attack. The decision came after international outrage over the killing of seven foreign aid workers by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Israel will allow the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through [the port of] Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in the early hours of Friday.
“This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The Erez crossing had been closed nearly six months ago when Israel declared a near-total blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
The aid has since been either delivered through the crowded Rafah checkpoint in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, or airdropped. Relief groups are saying that the current flow is only a fraction of what is needed, with the UN warning last month that as many as 1.1 million people – half of Gaza’s population – are experiencing food insecurity.
International pressure on Israel increased after the IDF bombed an aid convoy on Monday, killing seven foreign volunteers for the relief group World Central Kitchen. The Israeli military said the airstrikes were a result of “misidentification,” and promised to investigate the incident.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW