Israel to increase Gaza aid routes after US pressure, White House says

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Israel has agreed to open additional routes for the delivery of badly-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, the White House announced Thursday, just hours after President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that major reforms were needed.

Israel has yet to officially confirm that it has agreed to take the actions, but the White House said it will use the port at the Israeli city of Ashdod for direct aid deliveries to Gaza, open the Erez crossing point along the northern Gaza border and "significantly increase deliveries from Jordan directly into Gaza."

The actions "must now be fully and rapidly implemented," said National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

"As the President said today on the call, U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these and other steps, including steps to protect innocent civilians and the safety of aid workers," she said in a statement.

"We are prepared to work in full coordination with the Government of Israel, the Governments of Jordan and Egypt, the United Nations, and humanitarian organizations, to ensure that these important steps are implemented and result in a significant increase in humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in dire need throughout Gaza over the coming days and weeks," she added.

Prior to the White House's announcement, just the Karem Shalom and Rafah border crossings were open for aid deliveries. Both are in southern Gaza, and the flow of international assistance has remained woefully insufficient to meet the humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal enclave due to Israeli restrictions.

Biden spoke by phone with Netanyahu earlier Thursday, warning him that future US support for Israel's war on Gaza depends on Tel Aviv's implementation of major reforms following the "unacceptable" killing of seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.

The comments come after Israel carried out strikes Monday on a humanitarian convoy in central Gaza that killed seven aid workers with the food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) in what its founder Chef Jose Andres called a "direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known” by the Israeli army.

The White House said Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers.”

"He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps,” it said.

The White House later declined to specify what steps the president is taking into consideration. But it said the US expects to see Israel take several steps "in the coming hours and days," including allowing a "dramatic increase in the humanitarian assistance" into Gaza and opening up additional border crossings for aid deliveries.

It remains to be seen if the agreements will actually result in an increased volume of aid entering Gaza.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by the Palestinian group Hamas killed around 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,577 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.