JERUSALEM: Israel will reopen the crossing on the Israeli-controlled border between Jordan and the occupied West Bank to humanitarian aid trucks destined for Gaza for the first time since late September, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.
“Following the understandings and a directive of the political echelon, starting tomorrow (Wednesday) the transfer of goods and aid from Jordan to the area of Judea and Samaria and to the Gaza Strip will be permitted through the Allenby Crossing,” an Israeli official said in a statement, using the Israeli Biblical term for the West Bank.
“All aid trucks destined for the Gaza Strip will proceed under escort and security, following a thorough security inspection,” the official added.
Israel closed the crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead an Israeli soldier and a reserve officer at the border in September.
The crossing in the Jordan Valley reopened to travelers a few days later, but not to humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, devastated by more than two years of war.
Since the closure at Allenby, Jordan said it had been able to send some aid to Gaza via the Sheikh Hussein crossing, north of the West Bank.
The Allenby crossing is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.
Tzav 9, an extremist Israeli right-wing activist group seeking to halt any aid arriving in Gaza so long as Israeli hostages are held in the Palestinian territory, condemned Tuesday’s announcement.
“Hamas is still on its feet and acts every day against our fighters, and the government of Israel continues to send supply trucks and treats directly to the vile murderers who murdered, beheaded, and raped on October 7,” the US-sanctioned group said in a statement.
Of the 251 people taken hostage during Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza, all but the remains of Israeli Ran Gvili have been handed over.
Under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire deal that entered into force on October 10, Hamas committed to returning all living and deceased hostages.
Israel to reopen crossing with Jordan to Gaza aid trucks Wednesday: Israeli official
https://arab.news/btubw
Israel to reopen crossing with Jordan to Gaza aid trucks Wednesday: Israeli official
- “All aid trucks destined for the Gaza Strip will proceed under escort and security ,” the official added
- Israel closed the crossing after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead an Israeli soldier and a reserve officer at the border in September
Palestinians evacuate homes in Silwan following collapse blamed on Israeli excavations
- Ground under 3 adjacent houses caves in resulting in severe structural cracks and the collapse of a room in one of the properties
- Israel has been carrying out excavations beneath Silwan since 2007 to create an underground tourist attraction called ‘City of David’
LONDON: Palestinian residents were forced to evacuate three homes in Silwan, a neighborhood in the south of occupied East Jerusalem, on Monday after the ground beneath them caved in, reportedly as a result of decades of Israeli excavations in the area.
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said a retaining wall collapsed on Sunday and the ground beneath three adjacent homes belonging to the Abu Sbeih family gave way. This resulted in severe structural cracks and the collapse of a room in one of the houses.
Residents said they had repeatedly notified the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality about urgent safety concerns, but no preventive measures were taken to prevent a collapse, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Fawaz Abu Sbeih said cracks in the walls of his house were the result of Israeli excavations in the ground beneath and around the property. Since 2007, the Israel Antiquities Authority and settler group the Elad Association, also known as the Ir David Foundation, has been excavating under Silwan to create an underground tourist attraction called the “City of David.”
A recent storm and heavy rains in Jerusalem accelerated the collapse, said Abu Sbeih, who added that Israeli authorities require residents to obtain permits before maintenance work to reinforce building foundations can be carried out.
The excavations in Silwan have affected many residents, some of whom face eviction orders from Israeli authorities for building without permits.
Jerusalem Governorate described ground collapses in Silwan as part of Israel’s “systematic policy of forced displacement based on dangerous colonial excavations and the deliberate neglect of their impact on the homes of Jerusalemites, while simultaneously preventing Jerusalemite families from repairing or reinforcing their homes.”
