The United Nations needs to do more to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Israel said on Monday, posting to X a picture of dozens of trucks waiting on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing.
“We have expanded our capabilities to conduct inspections for the aid delivered into Gaza. Kerem Shalom [Crossing] is to be opened, so the amount of inspections will double. But the aid keeps waiting at the entrance of Rafah,” the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit wrote on the social media platform.
“The U.N. must do better—the aid is there, and the people need it.”
Israel announced last week that it will open the Kerem Shalom Crossing to inspect humanitarian aid trucks in the coming days. However, the trucks must still enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Sinai.
The Kerem Shalom Crossing, located at the junction of the Gaza Strip–Israel border and the Gaza–Egypt border, has been closed since the start of the war on Oct. 7, which followed a bloody mass assault on southern Israel by Hamas terrorists.
This move is meant to facilitate an increase in aid trucks entering the Strip. Israel currently inspects the trucks at the smaller Nitzana Crossing with Egypt before they make their way to Rafah.
The Biden administration is pressuring Israel to reopen Kerem Shalom fully but Jerusalem is rebuffing the requests, Politico reported.
“We have been engaged with Israel to enable a surge of humanitarian assistance through multiple mechanisms and options, including Kerem Shalom,” a U.S. official said.
