The first U.N. World Food Program aid trucks since the opening of Israel's Ashdod port to international humanitarian aid shipments crossed into the Gaza strip, the Israeli military said. File Photo courtesy Israel Defense Forces
April 18 (UPI) -- The first U.N. World Food Program trucks since the opening of Israel's Ashdod port to international humanitarian aid shipments crossed into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.
The eight trucks loaded with flour drove in via Israel's Kerem Shalom checkpoint at the southeastern tip of the strip adjacent to the border with Egypt on Wednesday afternoon after undergoing rigorous security checks at the Mediterranean Sea coast port 55 miles away to the north, Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X.
The operation was conducted in cooperation with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a Defense Ministry unit that liaises on civilian initiatives involving the government and the IDF and international organizations, diplomats and the Palestinian Authority, which said Ashdod-Kerem Shalom was not only an additional route to get humanitarian aid to where it was needed but an additional inspection point that would ramp up Israel's aid throughput capacity even further.
"This is part of the new phase of Israel's humanitarian campaign. There is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid we are willing to facilitate because we know our war is with Hamas and not with the people of Gaza," a COGAT spokesman said on X.
The WFP deliveries came a day after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of being slow to deliver on pledges to boost the amount of aid getting into Gaza amid warnings of looming famine and a deadly IDF airstrike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy killing seven of the U.S. non-profit's workers.
The IDF announced the first food aid convoy to use the new route Friday, two days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved the plan, but did not specify how many trucks had crossed into Gaza nor the aid agency to which they belonged.
The route is the second of two new crossings established in response to an intervention by U.S. President Joe Biden following the April 1 WCK incident, for which Israel has blamed human error and apologized.
A further three convoys have entered Gaza since via the Erez northern crossing point Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 25 trucks in all carrying around 404 metric tons of food parcels and wheat flour, WFP said in a post on X.
WFP said the aid for nearly 80,000 people was the first to get into the north of the strip via the new crossing which Israel opened April 5
"So far in April, 392 trucks carrying food have entered Gaza. This is nearly the same rate as March, but half that compared to January. The only way to halt famine is through regular and sustained access and a humanitarian cease-fire," the organization said.
Biden also said that more still needed to be done.
"In the 12 days following my call with Prime Minister Netanyahu, 3,000 trucks with food and supplies moved into Gaza -- a daily increase of over 50% from the week prior. It's still not enough," he said Wednesday in a post on X.
"We continue to urge Israel to ramp up land, air, and sea deliveries for Gaza civilians."
