US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said that the measures the Israeli government has announced to expand the flow of aid into Gaza are welcome, but might not be enough to meet the demands of US President Joe Biden’s administration for dramatic improvements in humanitarian conditions in the territory.
Blinken said that opening more border crossings, if fully implemented, has the potential to surge assistance to Palestinians caught in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
However, the US also wants to see tangible steps to bolster the protection of civilians and aid workers, he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In addition, he called for an “independent, thorough and fully publicized investigation” into the recent killings of aid workers.
Seven employees of the charity World Central Kitchen, including six international volunteers, were killed in multiple Israeli airstrikes on their three-car convoy in Gaza late on Monday.
The Israeli military yesterday announced that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their role in the strikes on the convoy, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
The attack on the convoy was a “grave mistake,” it said.
The speed of the investigation and swift punishment of senior officers was highly unusual for the military, where charges against troops for alleged wrongdoing are rare.
The findings are likely to renew skepticism over the Israeli military’s decisionmaking. Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict — a charge Israel denies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced early yesterday that the nation would act to improve conditions, including reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza, just hours after Biden told him in a Thursday phone call that future US support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel taking more action to protect civilians and aid workers.
Netanyahu’s office said the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was partially destroyed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, would temporarily reopen.
It also said Israel would allow its Ashdod port, 37km north of Gaza, to be used to process aid shipments bound for the territory and allow increased Jordanian aid shipments through another land crossing.
The announcement did not elaborate on quantities or types of items to be let in.
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