Direct route to the north
Israel’s army allows aid convoy to drive along new military road
March 13, 2024, 3:25 a.m
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As part of a “pilot project,” the Israeli army is allowing trucks carrying relief supplies directly into Gaza City via a newly expanded road. The World Food Program had pushed for direct access to the north of the coastal strip.
An aid convoy carrying food has reached the north of the embattled Gaza Strip via a new Israeli military road. After a check at the Israeli border crossing at Kerem Shalom, six trucks brought aid from the World Food Program (WFP) across the border into the northern Gaza Strip from the so-called 96th Gate near Kibbutz Beeri, the military announced. It was a pilot project to prevent the aid supplies from falling into the hands of the Islamist Hamas. The results would now be presented to the government.
The World Food Program had previously announced that the first successful convoy to the north since February 20th was able to deliver food to Gaza City for 25,000 people. Since the people in the north are on the brink of famine, deliveries and direct access to the north are needed every day.
The gravel road used by the convoy on the instructions of the Israeli government divides the sealed-off coastal strip south of the city of Gaza along an east-west corridor that has been occupied by Israeli troops since the start of the war against Hamas a good five months ago. The route runs from the Israeli border near Kibbutz Beeri, which was attacked on October 7 in the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel, to the Mediterranean coast. The massacre was the trigger for the war.
Israel has come under strong international criticism because of the now catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations is urging to expand aid deliveries by truck and to allow goods to be transported via border crossings to the particularly affected north of the coastal area. Several countries are now dropping relief supplies from the air, and the federal government is also preparing such relief flights.