87 aid trucks enter Gaza for 1st time since Israeli border crossing closures

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL

A total of 87 aid trucks have entered Gaza, marking the first such deliveries in 81 days since an Israeli-imposed closure of border crossings, the Government Media Office in the enclave announced Wednesday.

The office’s director general, Ismail Al-Thawabteh, told Anadolu that 87 trucks carrying various forms of aid have entered the Gaza Strip so far.

He said the aid “was allocated to several international and local organizations as part of efforts to distribute it to our Palestinian people to help meet part of their urgent humanitarian needs.”

Nahed Shahiber, the president of the association of private transport companies in Gaza, told Anadolu that among the trucks, 75 entered carrying flour for bakeries in the central and southern governorates through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Shahiber confirmed that there is no coordination for aid trucks to enter Gaza City and North Gaza governorate via the Netzarim corridor, as the army is preventing truck movement through it.

He said that out of the total number of trucks, 12 were loaded with nutritional supplements for children designated for UNICEF and their cargo was offloaded in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

He also noted the entry of five trucks carrying Emirati aid, including sugar and food items.

The Gaza Strip requires a minimum of 500 trucks daily carrying urgent relief and medical and food aid along with at least 50 fuel trucks as life-saving necessities amid a worsening famine caused by Israel’s closure of border crossings for over two months, the Media Office said in a statement Monday.

Since March 2, Israel has maintained a strict blockade on Gaza, denying entry to humanitarian aid and pushing the territory into famine, which has already claimed numerous lives.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.