UN uses new land route from Israel to reach northern Gaza

The United Nations used a new land route today to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks as global pressure grows on Israel to allow more access to the coastal enclave amid a looming famine.

Jamie McGoldrick, UN aid coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, tells Reuters that a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy had used an Israeli military road that runs alongside the Gaza border fence to reach the enclave’s north.

Enough food for 25,000 people was delivered to Gaza City in the early hours of Tuesday, says WFP spokesperson Shaza Moghraby. It was WFP’s first delivery to the north since Feb. 20 and “proves that moving food by road is possible.”

“We are hoping to scale up, we need access to be regular and consistent especially with people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine,” says Moghraby. “We need entry points directly to the north.”

The UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one-quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier that the United States was working with Israel to increase the amount of aid “by ground both through Kerem Shalom and through a new crossing, where we had the first trucks get in last night and we need to see more where that came from.”

Limited aid via land has been reaching southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt and Kerem Shalom from Israel.