More aid is supposed to be entering the Gaza Strip. Why isn't it helping? [View all]

Source: Associated Press

More aid is supposed to be entering the Gaza Strip. Why isn’t it helping?

BY JULIA FRANKEL
Updated 3:28 PM EDT, April 11, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — Under heavy U.S. pressure, Israel has promised to ramp up aid to Gaza dramatically, saying last week it would open another cargo crossing and surge more trucks than ever before into the besieged enclave.

But days later, there are few signs of those promises materializing and international officials say starvation is widespread in hard-hit northern Gaza.

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WHAT HAS ISRAEL PROMISED?

After Biden said last week that future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a series of steps. Biden spoke out after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers delivering food to the strip.

Netanyahu pledged to immediately re-open Israel’s Erez crossing into northern Gaza — a pedestrian crossing destroyed by Hamas militants when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Netanyahu also said he would allow Israel’s port in Ashdod to process aid shipments and increase Jordanian aid packages through another land crossing.

But Israeli officials this week dropped the plan to open Erez. ...

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-war-hamas-aid-trucks-unrwa-30173642b5c298c829f1457db357071e