IDF: First convoy of aid trucks enters northern Gaza through new land crossing

A first convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians was transferred to the northern Gaza Strip via a new land crossing last night, the Israel Defense Forces says in a statement.

The “Northern Crossing,” located on the northern border of Gaza, was built as a part of a series of steps by the IDF aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in the Strip amid the ongoing war there. It is located near Kibbutz Zikim, defense officials have said.

The IDF says the aid was “thoroughly” inspected by authorities at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on the southern Gaza border, before entering via the Strip’s north.

The statement does not say how many trucks were in the convoy.

At the start of the war, trucks only entered Gaza from Egypt’s Rafah Crossing, with the IDF later opening the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel to the south of the Strip. More recently, the IDF has also allowed aid trucks to use a military road in central Gaza and enter via a crossing known as Gate 96.