Berliner Boersenzeitung - Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough

EUR -
AED 3.879921
AFN 70.774705
ALL 97.658441
AMD 409.488241
ANG 1.905213
AOA 963.376768
ARS 1054.320885
AUD 1.627536
AWG 1.901401
AZN 1.801486
BAM 1.943481
BBD 2.134372
BDT 126.319293
BGN 1.9558
BHD 0.398119
BIF 3061.256379
BMD 1.056334
BND 1.412811
BOB 7.304697
BRL 6.133815
BSD 1.057139
BTN 89.15023
BWP 14.343757
BYN 3.459372
BYR 20704.14942
BZD 2.130774
CAD 1.478319
CDF 3026.39715
CHF 0.935785
CLF 0.037514
CLP 1035.112444
CNY 7.631383
CNH 7.652882
COP 4731.320676
CRC 539.798787
CUC 1.056334
CUP 27.992855
CVE 110.756993
CZK 25.285045
DJF 187.73139
DKK 7.458754
DOP 63.776161
DZD 141.547711
EGP 52.10252
ERN 15.845012
ETB 128.925753
FJD 2.399199
FKP 0.831283
GBP 0.831356
GEL 2.884081
GGP 0.831283
GHS 17.012698
GIP 0.831283
GMD 74.999517
GNF 9116.163919
GTQ 8.168224
GYD 221.158132
HKD 8.219706
HNL 26.472039
HRK 7.535367
HTG 138.99552
HUF 407.89813
IDR 16738.565373
ILS 3.965716
IMP 0.831283
INR 89.179585
IQD 1384.325909
IRR 44463.742746
ISK 147.284729
JEP 0.831283
JMD 167.357086
JOD 0.749047
JPY 164.334965
KES 136.790508
KGS 91.061436
KHR 4278.153377
KMF 492.621303
KPW 950.700505
KRW 1481.899804
KWD 0.324971
KYD 0.880916
KZT 521.017397
LAK 23181.253406
LBP 94594.723681
LKR 308.961568
LRD 194.36531
LSL 19.278261
LTL 3.11908
LVL 0.638966
LYD 5.144042
MAD 10.518957
MDL 19.048258
MGA 4917.235703
MKD 61.531456
MMK 3430.932127
MNT 3589.423527
MOP 8.469315
MRU 42.121293
MUR 49.531301
MVR 16.320345
MWK 1833.795702
MXN 21.69129
MYR 4.711444
MZN 67.498546
NAD 19.277515
NGN 1771.95785
NIO 38.851914
NOK 11.767666
NPR 142.642227
NZD 1.796592
OMR 0.406667
PAB 1.057099
PEN 4.016129
PGK 4.156411
PHP 62.152628
PKR 293.713639
PLN 4.341243
PYG 8250.095155
QAR 3.845638
RON 4.975967
RSD 116.975311
RUB 104.047459
RWF 1441.89612
SAR 3.969228
SBD 8.855836
SCR 14.40717
SDG 635.387436
SEK 11.603515
SGD 1.418836
SHP 0.831283
SLE 24.100276
SLL 22150.800682
SOS 603.695541
SRD 37.267363
STD 21863.98426
SVC 9.24937
SYP 2654.071001
SZL 19.278362
THB 36.91096
TJS 11.263007
TMT 3.707733
TND 3.32481
TOP 2.474044
TRY 36.2854
TTD 7.183466
TWD 34.278574
TZS 2809.848602
UAH 43.672836
UGX 3879.409365
USD 1.056334
UYU 44.567497
UZS 13547.485199
VES 47.531547
VND 26772.789136
VUV 125.410144
WST 2.954552
XAF 651.855898
XAG 0.034887
XAU 0.000411
XCD 2.854796
XDR 0.796378
XOF 651.239726
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.875515
ZAR 19.259818
ZMK 9508.281216
ZMW 28.91707
ZWL 340.139167
  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • RBGPF

    -0.8500

    59.34

    -1.43%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0500

    7.11

    -0.7%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough
Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough / Photo: Omar AL-QATTAA - AFP

Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough

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.

Text size:

Gaza has been in the grips of a dire humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of war following Hamas's 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 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 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's 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 army 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, Hezbollah trade fire -

Deadly Israeli strikes also pounded Lebanon where since September 23, Israel has stepped up its bombing campaign, mainly targeting Hezbollah 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 Hezbollah 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.

burs-raz/kir

(Y.Berger--BBZ)