Good news for the people of Gaza. Humanitarian aid was delivered on Wednesday “for the first time” from the Israeli port of Ashdod, located north of the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army said on Telegram. “Eight trucks carrying World Food Program (WFP) flour arrived today in the Gaza Strip from the port of Ashdod,” the IDF said on Wednesday. The trucks entered through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Palestinian territory.
“At the port of Ashdod, the trucks underwent a thorough safety check. They were then allowed into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, operated by the Defense Land Crossing Directorate, and were escorted by IDF soldiers,” the army added. According to the IDF, the operation followed a “government directive.”
500 trucks per day
While Israel is under pressure from many capitals to allow more aid into Gaza, where conflict has raged for more than six months, the War Cabinet in early April approved a series of measures to “avoid a humanitarian crisis” in the Palestinian territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Jewish state notably announced that it would allow “temporary” aid to flow through the port of Ashdod, about 40 kilometers north of the Gaza Strip, and through the Erez crossing between Palestinian territory and southern Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week that the measures were in preparation. He also set a goal of reaching 500 delivery trucks per day, a key figure for the United Nations. “We plan to flood Gaza with humanitarian aid and plan to deliver 500 trucks a day,” he said.
The use of the port of Ashdod – one of the largest in the country – to deliver aid to the Palestinians has been a constant request from the UN. In March, a PAM spokesman estimated that going through the port would be “much more efficient” than going through Jordan or Egypt.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, Gaza has been plunged into a severe food crisis. Humanitarian organizations have cited thorough checks of vehicles in particular as one of the reasons for the slow delivery. Israel, for its part, places responsibility on UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, which are considered unable to effectively distribute aid volumes in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Le Parisien
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