U.S. says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

File picture of trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossing into the Gaza Strip from Erez in southern Israel
| Photo Credit: AP

Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the U.S. State Department said Thursday (November 8, 2024), as a U.S.-imposed deadline looms next week.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.

They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”

“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Mr. Miller told reporters.

He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.

In the letter, Mr. Blinken and Mr. Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.

Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.

Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.

Mr. Miller said Mr. Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.