Israel opens new Gaza border crossing for aid deliveries

JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities opened a new border crossing with Gaza on Tuesday to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries.

The crossing was opened "in accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and as part of the effort and commitment to increase the amount and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip," said Israel's Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which coordinates civilian issues between the Israeli government, military, international community, and the Palestinian Authority in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

Trucks carrying food, water, medical equipment and equipment for shelters were inspected at the nearby Kerem Shalom Crossing before passing through Kissufim. The items are destined for southern and central Gaza.

Meanwhile, hundreds of food and water packages were delivered to the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun, where Hamas is trying to re-establish itself, Israeli authorities said on Tuesday.

The deliveries come amid a dispute with Washington over aid.

The outgoing Biden administration gave Israel a Nov. 12 deadline to take specific measures to address northern Gaza's humanitarian situation.

Israeli officials are also trying to head off the United Nations from declaring a famine in northern Gaza.

A declaration would trigger restrictions on American military aid to Israel, with other countries likely to follow suit.

The declaration would be based on the findings of the UN's Famine Review Committee, which assesses famine conditions.

The FRC issued an emergency alert on Friday, claiming "a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip," and that "immediate action, within days not weeks, is required."

The Israel Defense Forces rejected the alert, saying it was based on "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

An Israeli health emergency expert explained to The Press Service of Israel on Monday that there is no limit to the amount of aid could be delivered to the Strip.

"The amount of food trucks is determined by the amount that the donors send," Dr. Dorit Nitzan, director of Ben Gurion University's master's program in Emergency Medicine, Preparedness and Response, told TPS-IL. "The only thing that COGAT does is go through the items and don't allow anything that has dual use."

Nitzan, who also held senior positions at the World Health Organization for 17 years, stressed that the number of trucks entering the Strip "is determined entirely by the amount of donations provided for Gaza minus those that don't pass the security check. Some 97 percent is allowed in, from the Israeli side."

She added that the safety of the checkpoint can also be a factor, but more often than not, the greater danger is Hamas and associated criminal groups hijacking the trucks.

"The big obstacles are the access and utilization of food from the Gazan side," Nitzan said.

Nitzan participated in a study by several Israeli institutions, which concluded that Hamas posed the biggest threat to Gaza's food security by hijacking food deliveries and firing rockets at border crossings where aid transfers take place.

When Hamas slashed food prices in April, Gaza residents told The Press Service of Israel that the problem was not a lack of food but a shortage of money for families to purchase it.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7.

Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead.

Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. (PNA)