Israeli military says opening new aid routes into Gaza amid famine warning
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An Israeli soldier walks near aid trucks waiting by Gate 96, a newly opened entry point into northern Gaza.
PHOTO: REUTERS
JERUSALEM – Israel’s military has opened a new entry point for aid to enter Gaza and is allowing unlimited supplies into the enclave after a United Nations-backed report said there is an imminent risk of famine in the north and that it may spread.
After closing off access to Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on Oct 7 that set off the war, Israel has since allowed in aid convoys amid growing international pressure to boost the amount of supplies to feed Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
“As much as we know, by our analysis, there is no starvation in Gaza. There is a sufficient amount of food entering Gaza every day,” Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, told reporters at Gate 96, a new entry point for delivering supplies to the northern area.
A convoy of seven trucks entered through Gate 96 on March 22, which he said was the third time the route was used.
The plight of Gaza’s population after nearly six months of war has aroused growing international concern and anger.
“We are doing everything that we can to enlarge the capacity of humanitarian aid going into Gaza,” Col Tetro said, blaming “bottlenecks” on international aid groups that he said lack capacity to distribute supplies inside Gaza, where fighting has left a trail of destruction.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Israel during his sixth trip to the Middle East since the war started, said he would push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take urgent steps to allow in more aid.
The United States has joined other nations in using air drops to get aid into Gaza and has said it would build a pier so aid could also be delivered by sea.
Aid agencies say that, though welcome, such routes are no substitute to bringing aid by truck on land. REUTERS
