From the Liveblog of
Thursday, April 11, 2024
COGAT says Kerem Shalom Crossing blocked by 600 trucks of aid waiting on Gaza side
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says it is unable to transfer additional aid to the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom Crossing, because the contents of some 600 trucks are waiting on the Palestinian side for pickup.
“We extended crossing hours and scaled up our capacities. Do your job. The bottlenecks are not on the Israeli side,” the hybrid civil-military unit says on X, tagging the United Nations.
The IDF and COGAT have significantly increased the amount of aid going into Gaza in recent days.
COGAT accuses the UN of having a “slow” rate of pickup and distribution, due to its “lack of logistical capabilities, along with gaps in personnel, which led, among other things, to the accumulation of the contents of hundreds of trucks this week, which led to the flooding of the Palestinian side of the crossing, which prevents Israel from transferring additional humanitarian aid to the Strip.”
The UN has said that Israel sends half-full trucks into Gaza and they have to repack them after they have crossed into the Strip, as the two groups have disputed the amount of aid being sent.
Yesterday, the US envoy for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, David Satterfield, said the biggest obstacle to delivering humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza following the major influx is the lack of trucks available in the Strip to deliver the assistance.
The content of 600 aid trucks is waiting to be collected by the @UN on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom in a way that prevents the transfer of additional trucks.
We extended crossing hours and scaled up our capacities. @un, Do your job. The bottlenecks are not on the Israeli side. pic.twitter.com/xe0HsfTQEN— COGAT (@cogatonline) April 11, 2024
