Israel will not limit numbers of trucks in Gaza: UN aid official
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator said on Wednesday that Israel has decided not to set a limit on the number of trucks allowed to enter Gaza, as part of his presentation of a plan to bring aid into the Palestinian territories.
Martin Griffiths told reporters that the United Nations has about 460 trucks ready in Al-Arish, the closest major Egyptian city to the Rafah crossing leading to the Gaza Strip.
Griffiths said he was “very grateful” to hear, through UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “that the Israeli government has decided – and we thank it – not to set a maximum limit on the number of trucks entering.”
Griffiths’ announcement came while presenting a 10-point plan to help alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and specifically called for a ceasefire.
“We have the trucks, we need the fuel, we need the money to fund the delivery, and then we can do the job we are there to do,” he said.
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“It is very welcome that they said today there will be no cap on trucks.”
Griffiths called for allowing the continuous flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, including through its crossings with Israel, especially the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
“The amount of suffering is unbearable,” Griffiths said.
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“Opening additional crossing points for trucks and commercial aid to enter Gaza, including the Kerem Shalom crossing,” which he said was used to transport more than 60 percent of truckloads destined for the Strip before the conflict.
“Please, Israel, give us that for our crossing point.”
He also stressed the urgent need to stop the violence, regardless of whether it is called a ceasefire or a humanitarian truce.
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“I’ve spent 50 years dealing with different words to describe something very, very simple: Silence the guns, stop the fighting to allow people to move around safely,” he said.
“Silence those weapons long enough to give the people of Gaza a break from the terrible things we have been talking about in the past few weeks.”
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to its attacks on October 7, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 240 hostages to Gaza.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says the Israeli air strike and ensuing ground assault killed 11,320 people, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.
rjm/nl/giv
(tags for translation)Israel
