First humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza after 11-week Israeli blockade
The first few humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday, after Israel announced it would let limited amounts of food into the enclave.
The Israeli military allowed five trucks carrying baby food and other supplies into the Gaza Strip, via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, according to the Israeli defence body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, COGAT.
Israel partially resumed aid deliveries after an 11-week blockade. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision came about following growing pressure from allies, including the United States, who reportedly could not bear images of hunger from Gaza.
“I do believe that President Donald Trump has the necessary influence to change the situation in Gaza and to make sure that the siege be lifted and that the population get access to the assistance it deserves”, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told Euronews.
British and European Union leaders called the situation in the enclave “unacceptable” during a press conference after an EU-UK summit on Monday.
UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher welcomed the renewal of aid deliveries but called the move “a drop in the ocean.”
About 600 aid trucks entered Gaza each day during the two-month ceasefire that Israel broke on 18 March.
“We have to define what the basic is, because what is needed in Gaza is a massive, unhindered, uninterrupted assistance of supply to make sure that we are reversing the trend of the spreading hunger in the Gaza Strip”, Lazzarini said.
COGAT said more trucks should enter the enclave in the near future. Food security experts warned last week that the entire Gaza population – about 2 million people – was at critical risk of famine.
Israel has launched a new wave of “extensive” air and grounds attack on Gaza over the weekend, and the army ordered the evacuation of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in the enclave.
France, Canada and the UK warned the Israeli government they will take “concrete actions” if Israel does not “stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.”
“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable. Yesterday’s announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate”, the countries said in a joint statement on Monday.
By Rédaction Africanews
