The Israeli Army said this Wednesday that it has once again closed the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip after an alleged new attack by Hamas, further limiting the entry of humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave.
“Today Hamas attacked Kerem Shalom, the third time this week,” a military spokesman told EFE, insisting that Israel wants aid to enter the enclave.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned today that no aid was entering Gaza, despite the Israeli authorities’ announcement that this morning they had reopened Kerem Shalom and were inspecting aid trucks.
The crossing, one of the two points towards the south of Gazawas closed by the Army after a Hamas rocket attack on a nearby military base on Sunday, according to the Islamist group, in which four soldiers were killed.
Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for UNRWA, confirmed today to EFE that no aid has been distributed throughout the Gaza Strip all day, despite the fact that The Army said Kerem Shalom was open for humanitarian aid.
Israel usually counts all vehicles that arrive at military posts to be inspected as entries for trucks with humanitarian aid, without this meaning that the vehicles in question have been distributed.
“No fuel or aid has entered the Gaza Strip and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response,” Fowler said today.
The Rafah crossing, at the southern end of the Strip, it is also closed after the Israeli Army took it over as part of a military operation in the east of the town, in which dozens of people have died after two days of intense bombing.
The closure of both crossings leads the tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced in the area to an even greater humanitarian catastrophe, as many international organizations have warned in recent days.
Northern Gaza is already in a situation of total famine
According to the UN, Northern Gaza is already in a situation of “total famine.” Last week, the United States stopped a sending bombs to Israel amid concerns that the government could be close to making a decision on a large-scale assault on Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city, in a further deepening of divisions between the two close allies.
Washington says it is concerned about the fate of the around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into the city, most of whom fled fighting in other areas of the Strip.
Israel maintains that Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas and? a broader offensive is needed to dismantle the military and government capabilities of the insurgent group.
Meanwhile, the United States, Egypt and Qatar are stepping up efforts to bridge differences for a possible deal that would allow for at least a temporary ceasefire and the release of some of the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas. Israel has linked the threatened Rafah operation to the outcome of those negotiations.
He CIA Director William Burnswho has toured the region to hold talks about a possible truce, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahusaid a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
With the seizure of Rafah, Israel now controls all border crossings in the Strip for the first time since the withdrawal of its troops and settlers from the territory almost two decades ago, although for almost all this time it has maintained a blockade on the territory with the cooperation Of Egipt.
Rafah crossing it was a vital point for the arrival of crucial humanitarian aid since the start of the war and is the only place you can enter and leave Gaza. Kerem Shalom is the main freight terminal in the enclave.
