Israel to build new crossing into northern Gaza for humanitarian aid

Israel will construct a new crossing from its country into northern Gaza as the country faces international pressure to do more to get humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Their decision to build a new entry point for aid to enter the strip comes as Israel is bowing to international pressure, in particular from the United States, to flood Gaza with aid. Through six months of war, every Palestinian in Gaza is facing the threat of famine and a majority of them have fled their homes to avoid the major combat zones.

“We are constructing the Northern Crossing: a new land crossing from Israel into northern Gaza, to enable more aid to flow directly to civilians in the areas that have been challenging for trucks to access,” the Israel Defense Forces said. “The IDF will continue its efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by land, air, and sea in accordance with international law.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that Israel is planning to “flood Gaza with aid.”

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, the entity that coordinates aid for Gaza, said on Wednesday it had allowed more than 1,200 trucks of aid in three days.

They announced last week that it would open additional aid routes after President Joe Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would reconsider its relationship to Israel and Gaza if they did not do more to help Palestinian civilians affected by the war.

Since that call, Israel has said it would allow aid to travel from Jordan through Israel and into Gaza, and that it would allow aid to come into the Ashdod port in Israel to then be transported by land into the strip.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the new measures should allow for around 500 trucks of aid to enter daily. He also said Israel is “cooperating” with the U.S. military, which will build a pier off Gaza’s coast for aid to reach the strip by sea.

It has been harder for international aid organizations to get humanitarian aid into the northern part of Gaza due to lawlessness, criminal entities, and desperate civilians who are in dire need of aid. Israel started their military operations in northern Gaza, did its best to eliminate Hamas’s military capabilities, and moved south, but in doing so, left a power vacuum behind.

United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power agreed with an assessment that some Palestinians are already facing famine, according to CNN.

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The Biden administration has repeatedly and publicly urged Israel to do more to alleviate the worsening humanitarian situation over the course of several months. But, the administration had not publicly said it would consider changing its policies if the Israelis didn’t oblige. Biden did for the first time during his call with Netanyahu last week that was prompted by an Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers and resulted in international outrage.

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. had seen Israel “take some actions,” but noted that they “would like to see more.”