The pause began on Saturday and will take place every day from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. local time until further notice to allow trucks to move from the Kerem Shalom Crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid to southern Gaza, up the Salah al-Din Road and northwards, the IDF said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has triggered a humanitarian crisis. A bottleneck of aid has built up at Kerem Shalom amid airstrikes and fighting in much of southern Gaza.
The IDF has designated a route from Kerem Shalom to Al Bayuk and onto the European Hospital in Khan Younis to be open during the day for the transportation of humanitarian aid only. It will be run in coordination with international organizations, it said, as part of efforts to increase volumes of aid reaching Gaza.
But soon after announcing the move, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “the fighting in Rafah continues,” adding “there is no change in the entry of goods into the Strip.”
The fierce fighting that been underway in Rafah as Israel seeks to destroy Hamas in Gaza continued on Sunday, with a civil defense official in Gaza telling CNN that heavy clashes are ongoing in neighborhoods of western Rafah.
