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The Biden administration said the Jewish state had made good, but limited, progress in increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza, and would therefore not curb arms transfers, as it had threatened to do. did it a month ago.
The United States had in fact set a deadline for Israel to allow more food and aid to arrive in Gaza.
This seems to be the case after opening a fifth crossing point located opposite the kibboutz Kissufimclosest to the town of Deir al-Balah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The crossing point will allow the delivery of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to the central and southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said.
The aid will be subject to a security check at the crossing point Kerem Shalom and will then be transported to Gaza via this new crossing point.
Humanitarian organizations sound the alarm
However, aid organizations say conditions are worse than at any time since the start of the 13-month-old war.
Eight of them declared in a report that Israel had not respected the American criteria and had even taken measures which had considerably worsened the situation of the populations on the ground, particularly in the north of the Strip. from Gaza.
The report lists 19 compliance measures with US requirements. It says Israel has failed to comply with 15 of them and only partially complied with four. The report was co-signed by Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
Obstacles to aid distribution have been highlighted this week. Even after the Israeli army authorized a delivery to the northernmost part of Gaza, virtually without food for more than a month due to the Israeli siege, the United Nations said it could not deliver the most much of the aid due to unrest and restrictions imposed by Israeli troops on the ground.
Aid to the entire Gaza Strip collapsed in October, with only 34,000 tonnes of food entering, a third of the previous month, according to Israeli data.
The Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian aid to Gaza attributed the decline recorded in October to the closures of crossing points for major Jewish holidays and commemorations marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, who started the war.
