Closed after rocket attack
Israel’s military reopens Rafah border crossing
May 8, 2024, 12:21 p.m
The civilian population in Gaza needs all the help they can get right now. But almost all of it comes via the border with Egypt. This is why the closure of the Rafah border crossing is so devastating. But now it is open again, as the Israeli military explains.
According to Israel, the important border crossing for the delivery of aid supplies to the Gaza Strip, Kerem Shalom, has been reopened after being closed for several days. It was closed to humanitarian transport on Sunday after a rocket attack by the Islamist Hamas. Despite another rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, trucks from Egypt carrying humanitarian aid, including food, water, shelter equipment, medicine and medical supplies donated by the international community, have arrived at the crossing again, the Israeli army said.
After a thorough security inspection, the equipment will be moved to the Gaza side of the border crossing, the army stressed. On Tuesday, the Israeli military also took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt after advancing into the eastern part of the city. It was not stated how many trucks will now be able to operate after the reopening. However, aid supplies would also reach the coastal area via the Erez checkpoint in the north.
Israel’s western partners, including Germany, had urged the government in Jerusalem to reopen the crossing in view of the catastrophic supply situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip. This also applies to the Rafah crossing from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, the Palestinian part of which the Israeli army brought under control on Tuesday night.
After 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.”