Israel has promised it will allow a “substantial” increase of humanitarian aid, food and other supplies into Gaza, following negotiations with the European Union.
The move comes several days before EU foreign ministers were due to debate taking action to put pressure on Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to end the humanitarian blockade that has choked off the supply of aid flowing into Gaza.
In a deal agreed in recent hours, Israel committed to allow trucks full of aid waiting at the border to Gaza to enter the devastated Palestinian enclave, a spokesman for the European Commission said.
The deal, aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis and heading off the starvation of Palestinian civilians, was negotiated by the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar.
“These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will be continued to be taken to ensure there is no aid diversion to Hamas,” a spokesman for Ms Kallas said on Thursday.
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Under the agreement Israel has committed to allow a greater number of aid trucks into Gaza, open more crossing points in the north and the south of the territory, including routes for aid to get into the strip from Jordan and Egypt.
The EU said the deal would also allow for the resumption of fuel deliveries to humanitarian facilities, and the repairing of vital infrastructure. EU officials said Israel agreed to stop blocking off the power supply of a water desalination facility which had provided clean drinking water to civilians in Gaza.
The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, said the agreement would also enable “the distribution of food supplies to bakeries and public kitchens throughout the Gaza Strip”.
At least 57,500 Palestinian have been killed during Israel’s 21-month military occupation and bombardment of Gaza, according to health authorities in the Palestinian territory.
Political pressure increased on Israel after a total blockade of aid for 11 weeks earlier this year brought the population in Gaza to the point of starvation. Aid agencies have said deliveries of food, medicine and fuel into the war-torn enclave since then have been wholly insufficient.
There have been multiple incidents of civilians being shot and killed by Israeli forces while trying to pick up aid from a small number of designated distribution centres set up under effective Israeli control in recent weeks.
The concessions from Israel come several days before the EU’s 27 foreign ministers were to discuss a range of options they could take to increase pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
