Good news for the residents of Gaza. Humanitarian aid was delivered on Wednesday “for the first time” from the Israeli port of Ashdod located north of the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army announced on Telegram. “Eight trucks of flour from the World Food Program (WFP) entered the Gaza Strip from the port of Ashdod today,” the IDF said on Wednesday. The trucks entered via the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the south of Palestinian territory.
“The trucks underwent a thorough safety inspection at the Ashdod port. They were then admitted into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing managed by the Land Crossings Authority of the Ministry of Defense, and were escorted by IDF soldiers,” the army added. This operation follows, according to the IDF, a “government directive”.
500 trucks per day
While Israel is under pressure from many capitals to let more aid into Gaza, where the conflict has lasted for more than six months, the war cabinet approved several measures in early April to "avoid a humanitarian crisis" in the territory. Palestinian, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Hebrew State had notably announced that it would authorize the “temporary” delivery of aid through the port of Ashdod, approximately 40 km north of the Gaza Strip, and through the Erez crossing point, between the territory Palestinian and southern Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week that these measures were in preparation. He also set the goal of reaching 500 delivery trucks per day, a key figure for the United Nations. “We plan to flood Gaza with aid and we plan to reach 500 trucks a day,” he said.
The use of the port of Ashdod – one of the largest in the country – to deliver aid to the Palestinians was a recurring request from the UN. A PAM official estimated in March that it would be “much more efficient” to go through this port than through Jordan or Egypt.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, Gaza has been plunged into a serious food crisis. Humanitarian organizations cite drastic vehicle inspections in particular as one of the causes of slow delivery. Israel, for its part, places the responsibility on the UN agencies and humanitarian organizations deemed incapable of effectively distributing the quantities of aid in the Gaza Strip.