At the Kerem Shalom border crossing
Hamas’s armed wing claims responsibility for rocket fire
May 5, 2024, 10:04 p.m
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When rockets are fired towards the main border crossing for aid supplies into the Gaza Strip, Israel reacts quickly and closes the crossing. Now Hamas’ armed wing has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The armed wing of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks on Israel’s currently most important border crossing for aid supplies into the Gaza Strip. The Essedin al-Qassam Brigades “met the enemy troops” at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the group wrote in a statement. A video was attached that is supposed to show the shelling.
According to the statement, “short-range missiles” were used for the attacks. The Israeli army had previously said that ten projectiles were fired from an area near the city of Rafah in the direction of the Kerem Shalom crossing. As a result, Israel closed the crossing.
It was only in April that the Israeli government, under pressure from its important ally the USA, agreed to “temporarily” enable aid deliveries via the Erez border crossing and the port of Ashdod and also to allow more direct aid from Jordan via the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the south. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said at the time that the aid was needed to “prevent a humanitarian crisis and ensure the continuation of the fighting.”
“Famine spreading further and further south”
After almost seven months of war between Israel and the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is devastating. According to the latest information from the World Food Program (WFP), there is a “famine in the north of the Palestinian territory that is spreading further and further south.”
The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, in which, according to Israel, around 1,170 people were killed and around 250 others were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Since the Hamas attack, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 34,600 people have now been killed.