Israeli authorities said the nation will allow “temporary” aid deliveries via its border with the northern Gaza Strip. The announcement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday comes after US President Joe Biden warned that US policy will depend on how Israel reduces civilian harm in Gaza.
The announcement comes as international pressure mounts on Israel after it took responsibility for a strike that killed seven employees of US-based charity World Central Kitchen.
Biden and Netanyahu held a tense, 30-minute call on Thursday where Biden condemned the strike that killed seven employees of US-based charity World Central Kitchen. He said the strikes were “unacceptable” and called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
Biden told the Israeli Prime Minister that US policy will depend on Israel taking “specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers”, a statement by the White House said.
“Israel will allow the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint,” the statement from the prime minister’s office said, referring to a port about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Gaza and a land crossing.
According to Friday’s statement, the Israeli authorities will also allow “increased Jordanian aid through Kerem Shalom”, a border crossing in southern Israel.
“This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” the Israeli PMO added.
Directly after Israel’s announcement, the White House welcomed the moves to “increase aid flow to Gaza”, and called for them to be “fully and rapidly implemented”.
Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since the start of the war, with the United Nations accusing Israel of preventing humanitarian aid deliveries and warning of “catastrophic” levels of hunger.
Israel has denied throttling aid deliveries.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 33,037 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
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