Israel’s military announced Thursday what it called “new and improved measures” to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including constructing a new land crossing in northern Gaza.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a video statement that the new crossing would “enable more aid to flow directly to civilians in the areas that have been challenging for the trucks to access.”
International humanitarian groups have complained for months about barriers in bringing aid by truck into Gaza, citing both being delayed by the Israeli military and having a lack of safe access to areas such as northern Gaza due to the devastation of the war.
Hagari said Israel expects 50 trucks per day to pass through the new crossing, and that the total number of trucks reaching the Gaza Strip each day will gradually rise from 350 to about 500.
The United Nations says about 500 trucks per day were bringing aid to Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
In a phone call Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States expects Israel to quickly act on its commitments to facilitate more humanitarian aid and to coordinate with aid groups to ensure there is no repeat of the deadly Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy.
The State Department said Blinken and Gallant also discussed the ongoing talks about a cease-fire agreement that would include the release of hostages held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Israel said Wednesday it killed three sons of Hamas’ supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh in an airstrike in Gaza, saying all the siblings belonged to the militant group’s armed wing.
Four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren were also killed in the attack as Hazem, Ameer and Mohammed Haniyeh were driving with the children near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Ismail Haniyeh is originally from Shati.
Haniyeh, who lives in exile in Qatar, heard the news while visiting wounded Palestinians who had been transported to a hospital in Doha. He confirmed the deaths in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel, saying his sons "were martyred on the road to liberating Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
“The criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and murder and does not value any standards or laws," Haniyeh said.
His sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed so far in the six-month Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza. The Israeli military described the three siblings as a cell commander and two military operatives.
The brothers were traveling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone, Al-Aqsa TV said.
“All the people of Gaza have paid a high price,” the Hamas leader said. “I am one of them.”
It was not immediately clear how the deaths of Haniyeh’s sons and grandchildren might affect the monthslong cease-fire talks being brokered by international mediators, but Haniyeh said Hamas would not cave in to pressure.
"The enemy believes that by targeting the families of the leaders, it will push them to give up the demands of our people," he said. "Anyone who believes that targeting my sons will push Hamas to change its position is delusional."
Israel declared war on Hamas after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. Israel’s subsequent counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 33,000 people, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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