JERUSALEM: The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened on Sunday for aid trucks for the first time since Tel Aviv declared war on Gaza, a move intended to double the amount of food and medicine reaching the enclave.

In northern Gaza, Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in killed at least 90 Palestinians on Sunday, a health ministry spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s main telecoms company said on Sunday that mobile and internet services had gradually been restored in the centre and south of the beseiged Palestinian territory, after the latest service disruption.

“We would like to announce the gradual restoration of telecom services... our field teams were able to reach and repair the main damaged site after numerous attempts in the past days”, PalTel said after announcing communications were cut on Thursday.

Strikes on Jabalia camp kill 90; PalTel says telecom services slowly coming back online

The Kerem Shalom crossing had been closed after an Oct 7 raid by Hamas and aid was being delivered solely through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israel said could only accommodate the entry of 100 trucks per day.

As Israel’s campaign in Gaza has become deadlier, the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave has worsened dramatically with the United Nations and other world bodies warning of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Kerem Shalom, on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of the Palestinian enclave, allowing much faster transit than the Rafah passenger crossing a few kilometres away.

Israel approved the entry of aid last week.

“Starting today (Dec. 17), UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be transferred directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, to abide by our agreement with the US,” COGAT, the branch of military which coordinates humanitarian aid with the Palestinian territories, said in a statement. Asked if aid had crossed into Gaza, an Israeli official said yes.

A Palestinian border official confirmed Kerem Shalom was reopened earlier on Sunday in coordination with the UN Palestinian refugee agency and Israel.

Two sources in the Egypt Red Crescent told Reuters that trucks had crossed Kerem Shalom on Sunday on their way into Gaza. One said there were 79 trucks.

The prime minister’s office has previously said the opening would allow Israel to maintain its commitments to permit the entry of 200 aid trucks per day, agreed on in a hostage deal brokered and implemented last month.

Israel had already agreed to allow trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom but they had previously been obliged to return to Rafah to cross into Gaza from Egypt. Aid groups had been calling for them to be allowed in directly.

The aid may not quickly reach those in need.

Colonel Elad Goren, head of the civil department at COGAT, told Reuters humanitarian agencies had not increased their capacity to distribute aid to meet the demand from the influx of Gazans who have fled to the south of the enclave on Israeli advice.

Juliette Touma, communications director of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, pushed back on Sunday, saying on X, “you cannot deliver aid under a sky full of airstrikes.”

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2023