UN uses new land route from Israel to reach northern Gaza

The United Nations on Tuesday used a new overland route to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks, as global pressure mounted on Israel to allow more people into the coastal enclave amid looming famine.

Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. aid coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, told Reuters that the World Food Program convoy used an Israeli military road that runs along the Gaza border fence to reach the northern part of the enclave.

World Food Program spokesman Shaza Moghraby said enough food for 25,000 people had arrived in Gaza City early Tuesday. This is the WFP’s first food shipment to the north since February 20 and “proves that transporting food by road is possible”.

“We want to scale up and we need regular and consistent access, especially to people in northern Gaza who are on the brink of famine,” Mograbi said. “We need direct access points to the north.”

The United Nations warns that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – a quarter of the population – are on the verge of famine.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that the United States was working with Israel to increase “the amount of ground assistance coming through Kerem Shalom and a new crossing, and we had the first trucks coming in there last night that we need in order to Learn more about where it comes from.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the WFP convoy’s use of military roads.

Limited land aid has reached southern Gaza via the Rafah crossing in Egypt and Kerem Shalom in Israel.

McGoldrick said last week that the United Nations has been urging Israel for weeks to allow aid convoys to use military roads along the Gaza border fence road after inspections in the south. The plan was to have the trucks enter Gaza from the Israeli village of Beri.

The United States, Jordan and other countries have airdropped aid into Gaza, and on Tuesday a ship carrying 200 tons of aid left Cyprus in a pilot project to open a sea corridor to deliver supplies. While U.N. officials welcomed the new aid route, they stressed that there is no substitute for land access.

The war began after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli statistics. Gaza health authorities say 31,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s sweeping siege of Gaza, followed by air and ground attacks.