Eight World Food Programme trucks carrying flour entered Gaza on Wednesday, marking the first such shipment since Israel opened Ashdod Port for humanitarian aid.
“What you can see behind me is humanitarian aid, food, that was inspected here in the Ashdod Port and will make its way into the Gaza Strip,” an official with Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a video statement.
COGAT noted that the port is not only an additional route for aid shipments but also an inspection point, increasing the IDF’s ability to provide aid to Gaza’s two million inhabitants amid the war with Hamas.
“There is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid we are willing to facilitate because we know that our war is with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza,” stated the official.
For the first time since the approval of the opening of the Ashdod Port and in accordance with government directive, 8 @WFP trucks of flour entered the Gaza Strip from the Ashdod Port today (Wednesday). pic.twitter.com/KoxSWZWoK7
— COGAT (@cogatonline) April 17, 2024
Israel has recently ramped up efforts at getting aid deliveries into the coastal enclave, with the opening of a new land crossing to the Strip designed primarily to facilitate the entry of foreign aid.
“The aid has increased and quite dramatically in just the last few days,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby confirmed in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
On Tuesday, 376 trucks were inspected and allowed into Gaza, according to COGAT data. In addition, almost 100 pallets containing tens of thousands of meals were airdropped over the northern Strip.
On Sunday, the Israeli military announced that three bakeries in northern Gaza, which was recently reopened, are currently producing around three million pita breads on a daily basis.
Israel has significantly reduced the scope of aid distributed through the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency, with most of the supplies entering Gaza now being handled by other organizations.
According to data obtained by Israel Hayom in February, over half of the food entering Gaza is now delivered to the U.N.'s World Food Programme, 34% to UNRWA and the rest to other aid organizations.
