Israel says opens Gaza aid crossing, ahead of US deadline

Israel’s army has announced the opening of an additional aid crossing into Gaza, on the eve of a US-imposed deadline to improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory.

A soldier stands on patrol as trucks carrying humanitarian aid prepare to cross into the Gaza Strip on November 11 in Erez West Crossing, Israel. Picture: Getty Images

Israel’s army announced the opening Tuesday of an additional aid crossing into Gaza, on the eve of a US-imposed deadline to improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory.

The United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and eight humanitarian organisations however said that not enough aid was reaching the territory, already in the grips of a dire humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli army said it opened the Kissufim crossing Tuesday “as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip”.

“Food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment” were delivered to central and southern Gaza, the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories.

“The IDF (Israeli army), through COGAT, will continue to operate in accordance with international law to facilitate and ease the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.” Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel it had until November 13 to improve aid delivery to Gaza or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.

The US letter, dated October 13, was sent ahead of the November 5 US presidential election won by Donald Trump, who has promised to give Israel freer rein.

Eight aid groups including Oxfam and Save The Children however said Israel “failed to comply” with US demands — “at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023,” they said in a statement.

“We are calling on the US government to make an immediate determination that Israel is in violation of its assurances,” they added.

UNRWA warned that already disastrously low levels of aid trickling into Gaza had dwindled further, with the situation in the besieged north especially “catastrophic”.

Last month Israel’s parliament adopted a law banning the UN agency’s activities on Israeli territory.

A UN-backed assessment at the weekend said famine is looming in northern Gaza.

Although outgoing US President Joe Biden had repeatedly urged Israel to deliver more humanitarian aid and protect civilians, he mostly stopped short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.

The Kissufim crossing, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in 1206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Palestinians displaced from shelters in Beit Hanoun cross the main Salaheddine road into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip following Israeli army evacuation orders on November 12. Picture: AFP

Israel launched at least 10 air strikes on south Beirut Tuesday morning, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel’s army urged residents of several neighbourhoods to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion.

“Israeli warplanes launched a very violent 10th strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the official National News Agency reported.

AFPTV footage showed grey smoke covering the area, with big plumes rising after each strike.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents of four south Beirut neighbourhoods to leave immediately, warning it would strike Hezbollah targets there.

“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defence Forces will act in the near future,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

The post included a map showing the buildings it would target in the Lebanese capital’s south.

Witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire in the area ahead of the strikes — warning shots by residents for people to leave following the evacuation call.

NNA also reported Israeli strikes across Lebanon’s south that destroyed a building in the main southern city of Nabatiyeh and also targeted the eastern city of Hermel.

Last month, Israeli strikes razed Nabatiyeh’s historic marketplace, with another wave of attacks also hitting its municipality building and killing several including the mayor.

Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign, mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s east and south and in southern Beirut. A week later, it sent in ground troops.