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Six World Food Program trucks have arrived in northern Gaza
Photo: Israel Defense Forces / REUTERS
It is a glimmer of hope for the people in need in Gaza: an aid convoy with food has reached the north of the embattled coastal strip via a new Israeli military road.
The Israeli military announced this on Tuesday evening.
The newly built gravel road divides the Gaza Strip along an east-west corridor.
It runs from the Israeli border near Kibbutz Beeri, which was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, to the Mediterranean coast.
The construction of the road was criticized around the world: it is feared that the road will further complicate the long-term solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Israeli military described the aid convoy's route over the new road as a "pilot project."
The aim is to prevent the aid supplies from falling into the hands of the Islamist Hamas.
The government must now decide whether further aid deliveries will be made via this route.
It was the first successful aid convoy to the north since February 20th.
The six trucks were carrying aid supplies from the World Food Program.
This warned that the people of northern Gaza were on the verge of famine.
They needed daily supplies.
Another is currently traveling by sea: a ship loaded with around 200 tons of food left Cyprus on Tuesday.
It is expected to arrive in Gaza in two to three days.
Israel has come under strong international criticism because of the now catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations is urging to expand aid deliveries by truck and to allow goods to be transported via border crossings to the particularly affected north of the coastal area.
vet/dpa