IDF says it’s beginning a ‘next phase’ of humanitarian assistance to Gaza

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an English-language video statement says the military is beginning a “next phase” of humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, opening a new land crossing for trucks to directly reach the northern part of the enclave.

“We have worked together with countries and international organizations from around the world to develop new and improved measures to increase the flow of aid to Gazan civilians, by land, sea, and air,” Hagari says.

He confirms that the IDF is “constructing the Northern Crossing, a new land crossing from Israel into northern Gaza.” Yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told foreign press that a new land crossing was being built, with one of his aides saying it was to be located near Kibbutz Zikim.

Hagari says the new crossing is “to enable more aid to flow directly to civilians in the areas that have been challenging for trucks to access.”

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 allowed aid trucks to use a military road in central Gaza and enter via a crossing known as Gate 96.

He says that the new Northern Crossing is expected to handle at least 50 aid trucks per day.

“These new measures enable us to bring more aid and trucks destined for Gaza from overseas, including via the land crossing with Jordan” and Ashdod port, Hagari says.

He estimates that the new measures will “gradually” bring the average number of aid trucks entering the Strip per day to 500.

According to the IDF, since the beginning of the war, Israel has coordinated the entry of 22,205 trucks carrying 417,231 tons of humanitarian aid.

Hagari also notes plans by the US to build a floating pier in central Gaza to bring in more aid, and the ongoing airdrops by various nations.

The IDF says that it has coordinated 64 airdrop missions, with a total of 3,962 packages of food in Gaza.

Hagari says coordinating aid into Gaza is “complicated” and is “complicated further by Hamas’s ongoing fire, including toward aid convoys.”

“We are working together with international organizations to solve the challenges of the destruction of aid inside Gaza, and we are implementing the lessons learned from the tragic incident with the WCK organization, in order to maximize protection of aid workers,” Hagari continues, referring to a mistaken strike that killed seven aid workers.

We are employing new humanitarian aid directives in coordination with @cogatonline , international organizations and @CENTCOM to solve the distribution problem caused partially by Hamas.

Since the beginning of the war, 22,000 trucks containing 400,000+ tons of humanitarian aid… pic.twitter.com/gDFnXV5Tdg

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 11, 2024