On Wednesday, Israel reopened the sole crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, allowing aid trucks to pass through the Erez checkpoint following U.S. demands to do more to address the growing humanitarian crisis.
For months, reopening the Erez crossing has been one of the main appeals of international aid agencies, to relieve hunger which is believed to be most extreme among the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the enclave’s northern sector.
On the day of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Israeli government opened the crossing point. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for more humanitarian aid deliveries into the region.
Erez crossing
The Erez crossing had remained closed since it was destroyed during the Hamas attacks on October 7 that started the battle. It is primarily used for foot traffic.
Communities on the northern edge of Gaza were the first to be stormed by Israeli forces at the start of the war last year, and have been mostly reduced to ruins. Aid agencies say they have faced problems reaching the area with food and medicine transported from other parts of Gaza across the battle zone.
Israel declared it would reopen Erez, a few days after its army killed a group of humanitarian workers delivering food aid in Gaza in air strikes that brought international condemnation.
