IIsrael will reopen a new crossing point in the besieged Gaza Strip, the US State Department said on Thursday, days before the expiration next week of a US ultimatum on increasing the humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
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“We have seen Israel take a number of important steps in recent weeks (…) and they plan to open a new additional crossing point at Kissoufim in the coming days,” the Israeli spokesperson told reporters. Department of State, Matthew Miller.
The American Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, had sent, in a letter dated October 13, a series of demands to Israel to allow the increase in humanitarian aid, giving it 30 days to respond.
Failing this, the United States threatened to suspend part of its military assistance to Israel.
The spokesperson declined to say how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with US demands, or when such an assessment would be made when the deadline expires on November 13.
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The delivery of American humanitarian aid
U.S. law requires that recipients of U.S. military aid not “arbitrarily” refuse or obstruct the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.
The outgoing Biden administration’s room for maneuver is, however, very limited given Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday in the presidential election, while the Republican accuses the American president of putting pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The spokesperson further stressed that Israel had approved “additional delivery routes inside Gaza, which is essential” for the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory devastated by more than a year of war.
The letter discussed, for example, the need for Israel to let in up to 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day, to open a fifth crossing point into the Gaza Strip and to limit evacuation orders to what is strictly necessary. . On Tuesday, some 229 trucks were able to return to Gaza, according to Matthew Miller.
Large areas of Palestinian territory have been devastated by the war waged by Israel in retaliation for the Hamas massacre on its territory on October 7, 2023.
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