JERUSALEM: the Israeli army announced the opening on Tuesday, November 12, of an additional crossing point for aid to Gaza, on the eve of a Deadline imposed by the United States improve the humanitarian conditions of Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory.

“As part of the efforts and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip, the Kissoufim crossing was opened today,” the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the Israeli Ministry of Defense agency responsible for civil affairs. in the Palestinian territories.

“The operation… includes the delivery of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to central and southern Gaza,” they said, adding that it involved the army, COGAT and the Ministry of Defense.

“The Israeli military, through COGAT, will continue to operate in accordance with international law to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”

Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel she had until November 13 to improve the delivery of aid to Gaza or risk seeing the withdrawal of part of the military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.

The letter was sent a few weeks before the November 5 US presidential election. won by Donald Trumpwho promised to give more freedom to Israel.

Although outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly urged Israel to provide more humanitarian aid and protect civilians, he has mostly not used pressure tactics such as removing weapons.

Kissufim, near a kibbutz across southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war, has been mostly disused, except by the military, since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Israel’s campaign of retaliation has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-controlled territory’s Health Ministry and considered reliable by the United Nations.