Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel announced the opening of an additional aid crossing into Gaza Tuesday, on the eve of a US deadline to boost relief deliveries, but aid agencies said it was not enough.

Gaza has been in the grips of a dire humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of war following Hamas' unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

The United States last month warned Israel to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to its military support.

A day before the deadline, the Israeli military said it opened the Kissufim crossing "as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid" to Gaza.

"Food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment" were delivered to central and southern Gaza, the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.

The army published video showing lorries loaded with sacks and pallets entering Gaza.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight humanitarian groups said Israel was still not doing enough to get aid in.

The eight organisations including Oxfam and Save The Children said Israel "failed to comply" with US demands -- "at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza".

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023," they said in a joint statement.

Aid at 'lowest level' 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin warned Israel last month it had 30 days to ramp up aid deliveries to Gaza or risk losing some military assistance from its chief arms supplier.

The US letter, dated October 13, was sent ahead of the US presidential election won by Donald Trump, who has promised to give Israel freer rein.

Government spokesman David Mencer said on Tuesday that Israel took the letter "extremely seriously" and was "willing to get as much aid as possible through".

But the previous day, a senior military official said Israel had "a responsibility to make sure that terrorism does not enter Gaza under the auspices of aid", adding that the army had a few hours earlier found "a bag of flour filled with Kalashnikovs and ammunition" in a humanitarian convoy.

Asked on Tuesday about whether there were signs the situation had improved ahead of the US deadline, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, said "aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months".

The eight aid groups called on "the US government to make an immediate determination that Israel is in violation of its assurances".

The situation is at its worst in northern Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment at the weekend said famine was imminent.

Deadly strikes 

Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 43,665 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

"My uncle's family, they were all killed, there was no one left," a visibly exhausted Umm Muhammad Awda told AFP in Gaza City.

"Since the dawn prayer they were shelling us," she added.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

The Israeli forces announced the deaths of four soldiers in northern Gaza, bringing its losses in the territory to 376 since the start of ground operations on October 27, 2023.

Israel, Hizbollah trade fire 

Deadly Israeli strikes also pounded Lebanon where since September 23, Israel has stepped up its bombing campaign, mainly targeting Hizbollah strongholds in south Beirut and in the east and south.

Rocket fire from Lebanon killed two men in northern Israel, first responders said.

The Israeli military said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, some of which were intercepted, while "others fell in the area".

Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah said it targeted an air base near Tel Aviv.

Lebanon's health ministry said at least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

More than 3,280 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, the majority of them since late September, according to ministry figures.