Dec. 18 (UPI) — Hundreds of trucks filled with humanitarian aid and supplies earmarked for desperate Palestinian civilians have flowed into the Gaza Strip since Sunday after Israeli authorities reopened a pair of crossings.
Almost 200 truckloads of aid entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings on Sunday, an Israeli government spokesman said, while the Israeli civilian authority overseeing the occupied Palestinian territories confirmed that a further 191 trucks passed into Gaza on Monday.
The movement of aid into Gaza marked the first time that any such supplies have been allowed into the war-torn Palestinian enclave since the collapse of temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants on Dec. 1.
It was also the first time the northern Kerem Shalom Crossing between Gaza and Israel has been opened for any reason since beginning of hostilities on Oct. 7. Israeli officials agreed to the move last week in the wake of pressure applied by U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to do more to help Palestinian civilians in dire need of “life-saving assistance.”
Tal Heinrich, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, told reporters Monday that 122 trucks entered Gaza through the southern Rafah crossing with Egypt on Sunday while 79 trucks came through Kerem Shalom.
He criticized as “ridiculous” a report issued by Human Rights Watch in which the group accused the Israeli government of using starvation of civilians “as a method of warfare” in the Gaza Strip, which it claimed is a war crime.
The Israel agency COGAT, which coordinates civilian government activities in the occupied territories and is facilitating humanitarian aid for Gaza, announced a further 191 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to the Strip on Monday.
That total included 127 trucks coming through the Rafah crossing and 64 others via Kerem Shalom.
Some 1.9 million Palestinians have been internally displaced during the Israel-Hamas conflict, with vulnerable populations, mainly women, children and the elderly, being impacted most, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Calling the situation in Gaza an “urgent humanitarian crisis,” aid workers say Palestinians are facing difficulties concerning electricity, gas and water supplies, as well as food shortages and insufficient sanitation in overcrowded living spaces, heightening the likelihood of diseases and outbreaks.
