REPUBLICA.CO.ID, GAZA — Israel opened the Karem Shalom crossing gate to the Gaza Strip on Sunday (17/12/2023). For the first time since the war broke out on October 7, 2023, humanitarian aid to Gaza can be distributed through the gate.

“Starting today (December 17, 2023), UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be sent directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, in order to comply with our agreement with the United States,” the Israeli military agency that handles Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, was quoted as saying by the Middle East Monitor.

A Palestinian border official confirmed the opening of the Karem Shalom border gate. Two sources in Egypt's Red Crescent said aid trucks had crossed Karem Shalom towards Gaza on Sunday. The number is said to reach 79 trucks.

The head of the civilian department at COGAT, Colonel Elad Goren, said humanitarian agencies had not increased their capacity to distribute aid to meet the demand of Gazans displaced to southern Gaza.

“If the UN does not have the capacity to collect and distribute, it does not matter how many crossings we will open. They cannot rely on the same mechanisms as before the war. We adjusted. Unfortunately the UN didn't do it,” Goren said.

But Communications Director of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) Juliette Touma denies Goren's assertion. “You cannot send aid under a sky full of air strikes,” he said.

The Karem Shalom crossing was closed when Israel began launching aggression into Gaza on 7 October 2023. Since then, the crossing door that could be used to deliver aid to Gaza has only been Rafah in Egypt. Israel claims Rafah can only accommodate an influx of 100 trucks a day.

Kerem Shalom, on the borders of Egypt, Israel, and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of Gaza. The Karem Shalom crossing allows faster transit than Rafah passengers crossing several kilometers away.

So far, Israel's aggression into Gaza has killed at least 18,800 people. More than 14,000 of them are women and children. At the same time, the number of injuries has exceeded 51 thousand.

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