
A senior United Nations official confirmed on Saturday that Israel has approved a series of measures aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, including the reopening of 20 bakeries and a water pipeline in northern Gaza.
In a statement, UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza and Judea and Samaria, Jamie McGoldrick, outlined several other commitments made by Israel in response to repeated requests.
These include, according to the statement, “A better functioning coordination cell will be established that links humanitarians directly with the IDF Southern Command.”
McGoldrick also said Israel outlined plans to open Erez Crossing temporarily to move food, water and sanitation items, shelter and health materials from Ashdod port as well as plans to increase the number of trucks entering through the Allenby Bridge crossing towards Gaza from 25 to at least 50 per day.
He also said Israel announced its intent to expand operating hours of Kerem Shalom and Nitsana crossings, while anticipating an increase in the number of trucks scanned by an additional 100 trucks per day, as well as the deployment of additional scanner and staff capacity at Kerem Shalom crossing to accelerate the transfer of aid into Gaza.
“As I have stated previously, the humanitarian community is prepared to scale-up assistance in Gaza, but this requires better security, greater access, and more reliable facilitation from Israeli authorities. We stand ready to work with all parties to alleviate the suffering of people in Gaza,” said the UN official.
McGoldrick’s statement comes two days after the Political-Security Cabinet announced it had approved an increase of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including permitting the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and the Erez Crossing and the increase of Jordanian aid through Kerem Shalom.
The measures were approved after US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call, during which, according to the White House, the President “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
On Friday, Biden did not deny that he threatened to stop military aid to Israel during the call with Netanyahu, though he would not confirm that either.
A reporter asked if Biden if had threatened to stop the aid to Israel, to which the President would only reply: “I asked them to do what they’re doing.”